Secret Longing
by Icy AngelWings
Summary: A girl who witnessed the beginning of repeating time and is captured, she's forced to escape and find someone she can trust, Jin of course! But he may teach her more than how to survive. Need ideas, help letter posted!
1. The Beginning of the Purgatory Era

Secret Longing 

Chapter 1

Beginning of the Purgatory Era

She had to run for her life, she never wanted to go back…to that horrible place! Ever since the Netherworld was secretly opened a few weeks ago, a huge section of Spirit World was dominated by the beasts of hell.

Most of the spirits who witnessed the opening of the Portal of Passing to the Netherworld, most fled for a stronger place to survive, others were captured or killed.

Those who were killed were piled in seven or eight foot heaps, then burned to the last spirit and some were even burned alive for seeing the demons who invaded. The ones who were captured were taken to the nearest base and it was made into a camp of torture and prison. They were held there for ransom to King Enma and Koenma.

The prisoners were forced to learn the skills of being assassins, to kill Lord Enma and Koenma and take over Spirit World, even children as young as four were taught brutally. All prisoner's hair was dyed black, had to wear dark clothes and collars and other jewelry with large sharp spikes.

But those who refused were beaten, whipped, burnt or frozen to death and they laughed! She couldn't stand it anymore, she decided to run away. Ten spirits of different races joined her for escape, but those ten were caught by the three headed watchdogs and dragged back in pieces for punishment.

She was the only one who could fight off an entire army of the ruthless demons; she was a Night Maiden, a legendary race to have been known as the most powerful spirit in all of Spirit World, but the most unhappy spirits as well.

Night Maidens could cure sickness, resurrect the dead of loved ones who died in vain, exorcise evil possessive demons and protect the lower class demons. They only traveled and showed up when necessary, most called them "Dark Saviors".

Once the spirits in the camp realized who she was, they gathered around her and wanted to be blessed but she could do nothing, she knew she would be put to death if she spoke.

Whenever a new type of spirit entered the hell camp, they took a vow of silence to everyone, even the owners themselves. The demons were telepathic so the slaves didn't have to talk. But they had to obey some many rules to stay alive but hundreds of spirits died by the day.

Whenever someone broke a law such as: try to escape, steal from the owners, or try to kill the leader, everyone gathered around the center of the fortress and watched the person or group of people die a brutal and vain death.

After each ceremony of a death of a prisoner, all the others would ask the Night Maidens to do something to stop the demons but they never said a word or lifted a finger to help anyone.

She cried each painful and cold night in the fortress, no blankets to comfort her or anyone to speak with, but the bind of the Vow of Silence would prevent her. Other prisoners talked in secret at night when the patrol had lessened, or ones who were telepathic would have nightly conversations…talking of what life was back before the Era of Death, War and Slavery had started once again. She shut out her mind to all around her, the owners sort of backed away after she beat one of the four leaders of the camp.

Each day she would travel into the place where the rebels of the spirits were hiding, killing anyone who saw her and then she carried five times her weight in dead corpses of innocent spirits…ones she knew and ones she was close to. She was weak and got beaten a lot for lack of strength, endurance and direction. But she still kept a glimmer of faith of the person she met eight hundred years ago.

(Interruption: For those who aren't familiar with this stuff: Jin is 1,000 yrs. old and my original character is 900. So in this story, Jin is 18 and my original character is 17. Sorry for the confusion, back to the story!)

She jumped into another high tree (about ten feet tall, work with me here) and hid in the shadows until the dogs and demons came into sight. The four leaders were men demons, one a vampire demon, one a fire demon, one an ice demon and one a moon apparition, the opposite of a Night Maiden. They all were strong built and attractive but ruthless and bloodthirsty.

The main leader, the vampire, was called DarkEyes… tall, black haired, eyes of a wolf and the hearing of a wolf but had the charm of a true vampire. He lured girl spirits into the shadows and made them think they were in love with him, but his kiss made them poisoned then paralyzed as he beat them to a bloody pulp then dragged away by him as he flew into the night back to the fortress.

The fire youkai was Pyroblood, mid height and nothing but a bad boy and smarter than all four. He was the strategist of the leaders, always planning attacks on the remaining spirits and always scouted the escape routes until sun up. He had six long scars running down his face and he may be blind but his senses never failed him. He always dressed in red and black robes, and he carried weapons every inch of him.

The ice youkai was Jacknife, an ice ninja with the greatest stealth of any ninja in all three realms. His aqua hair fell to his shoulders softly, his long bangs covering his frosty blue irises, his ice blue clothes shimmering in the light of the moon and torches. He only showed some mercy around his kind and hers but often he was dark and inconsiderate around the prisoners. He was the one who did all the tortures and wrote the death wishes of the dead one the Wall of the Afterlife in their blood.

And the moon apparition was called Rathan, the darkest and most attractive of the four leaders. His long white hair and pure white wings, and pale colored irises made him the talk of the girl spirits. He licked the blood of the dead on the Wall of the Afterlife after the execution was complete, took girl slaves and lured them into the Den of Night, a place so dark and sinister not even words could explain what happened in that chamber of the fortress. Whoever went inside with Rathan never survived to tell the story except for her.

She remembered every night what he did to her, what he said to make her snap and beat him to a pulp that night. When the three leaders came to see the fight, they all actually back away to avoid getting knocked over by Rathan's thrown body. Pyroblood and Jacknife carried their companion to the Healing Springs while Darkeyes stayed with her and gave her the punishment of all suffering.

She tried to fight after the first few minutes, but he was stronger than her and he overpowered her until she couldn't even move a muscle without screaming in pain. **_'A worthless, stupid, weak Night Maiden like you shouldn't ever try to kill her master, it's bad for your future,' he had whispered slyly in her ear, threw her in the Spike Chamber and left her there for a week without food or sunlight. _**

After that she was afraid of the four leaders of the prison and even everyone around her since that night, but once she cleared her mind one night after praying silently to herself, she gathered the ten friends she'd been together with and made a second plan to escape.

It never took the scouts long to see her and the others escape and the dogs were sent out immediately. The leaders thought of these wild goose chases as entertainment besides the beatings and the executions.

First, three were dragged back to the camp by the dogs…then two Jacknife had snuck up on while hiding in the bushes. **_'Five pieces of property down, five more to kill and torture. MOVE OUT NOW!' Jacknife had ordered the other three as he jumped back into the trees to hunt down the other five. The others nodded with cold pleasure and ran on into the forest. _**

After an hour or so passed, the remaining four of her friends except her were captured and killed before her eyes and she didn't shed a tear for either one of them. Pyroblood had attacked her first but she drove him off by stabbing him in his left eye with her extended nails and once again flew into the dark young night.

Then Rathan grabbed her by the hair from behind and threw her down from the tree into the dirt below (a ten foot drop…how's that?). He had gracefully landed on top of her after she had fallen and tried to hypnotize her with his dreamy icy eyes. But she jabbed him in the jaw with her head, and kicked him back with her spike studded boots.

"Well well, does the night girl want to play a game of Hide and Seek?" Rathan challenged, thrusting his wings out and got into his battle stance.

But she just laughed and created a thick smoke surrounding the entire forest and continued running, holding her severely broken and bleeding right arm to her side, her tongue starting to bleed from biting down to prevent screaming or breathing hard. The four leaders could find any prisoner miles away with their hearing; they could hear a soft breath fifty miles away.

Her wings were broken in several places so the option of hiding in trees was out of the question. Her long black hair, once a lovely auburn, stuck to her face and blocked her sight from the rain and wind, she was running blind. She knew half the forest by heart, but she feared this time she would never see the light of the sun again.

She could hear Darkeyes close above her in the thick knot of tree branches, waiting for the right moment to swoop down and finish her off, she could also hear Jacknife softly running along the trees a few feet above and from her. Her mind was too focused to even think of memories of the person eight hundred years ago.

The sound of rushing water made her faintly sigh in relief as she could hear the loud splashing sound of the wide river ahead. But it was too late for the four leaders were inches away from her and she prayed that she would live but everything happened in a blur.

Pyroblood and Jacknife held her arms behind her back while Darkeyes held a Blood Dagger to her neck, and Rathan was looking straight at her, his face an inch away from her. He smirked and took her chin in his hand and studied her face, turning her face sideways both directions slowly a few times.

"Such pale skin and lovely eyes, you are quite the nasty fighter aren't you?" he teased quietly, his lips almost touching her, his eyes growing more bloodthirsty as he smelled the blood on her broken arm and in her mouth. "What do you think gentlemen? Is she worthy of a accidental death or a brutal death?"

But none of them had time to speak for she was shaking with power and suddenly the tables were turned on them. Her nails extended and pointed, her hair turned auburn and her white hot energy burned their vision temporarily. They screamed in agony, but Rathan ran after her as she made another run for the river ahead.

He cursed under his breath as he heard a splash and a couple of sick thuds as she disappeared into the wrath of the river, but a sly cruel crept along his lips and he bared his fangs. 'We'll find you Night Maiden! No one escapes from Black Cross Fortress and lives to tell the tale of the beginning of the Purgatory Era!'

TO BE CONTINUED…


	2. The Promise

Chapter 2

The Promise

She fell down again and started crying over her bleeding knee, but started running again to hear the sound of the leaders and their dogs racing in her direction. She hated them, they murdered her family, worked them to death then gave them all the tortures possible in the camp but she survived.

Being in the forest at night wasn't a good for a child as young as her (she's only 100 yrs. at this time, so she's six years old in Earth years), and the Merciless Wolves always fed at this time.

Merciless Wolves were said to be as strong and merciless as the four leaders themselves, judging from the many tales told of their existence. Sometimes the four leaders would hold tournaments in the camp to see which prisoner was the strongest of fighting seven Merciless Wolves at once, only using a sword and a dull wooden shield and most never survived.

If any prisoner survived, they would be rewarded freedom to leave the camp with new clothes and food, never to be bothered again but she never believed the trash the leaders spoke of to the prisoners, but sadly all believed them. 'Their minds are corrupted from seeing their own kind die suffer, and from the beatings,' she always thought to herself as she grew up in the camp since she was two, four years of pain and suffering.

But one day three years ago, a prisoner was victorious against the seven wolves and he really was awarded freedom to leave. His name was Lyle, a wind demon with fuzzy brown hair and a small build for a boy of 300 yrs. old (in this story, he would be 8 in Earth years). She had met him after his victory, as he was leaving the camp…

**_'You were great out there Lyle!' she complimented happily, but made sure she spoke quietly, for the leader's rules said that every prisoner was forbidden to speak out loud ever…if so, death was the penalty, no matter who it was. 'Thanks Loreena, I'll miss talking with you at night,' he whispered, ruffling her hair playfully and laughing softly. 'I'll miss you too Lyle, be careful oks?' she asked, her toothy smile making him pick her up and hug her. They had known each other ever since they became partners in the shack they shared for 200 yrs, they always trusted each other with their secrets and futures if they ever got out alive. 'Always remember me ok Lyle?' she asked nervously, hearing some rustling in the bushes and scooted closer to him. He held her at his side and looked around for a moment, then bent down and told her to hold out her small hand. _**

**_ She opened her hand to see a beautiful round blue diamond held up by golden wings on a gold chain. 'This was my mother's before she died, and since you remind me of my family, I want you to have it Loreena, he whispered, placing is hand over hers. He mouthed goodbye before he strolled out of the bushes, waving goodbye to her._**

_**But suddenly, she heard a scream of pain and she rushed into the forest to see Lyle fall to the ground dead, a knife in his head and in his back. **_

**_'LYLE NO!' she screamed in her mind and snarled to see Rathan jump down from a tall tree and laugh to himself, kicking the body aside and going back to camp. Loreena started to run away when Rathan, using his inhuman agility, grabbed by the hair from behind and laughed cruelly. _**

**_'Sorry, no emotions are to be shown in this territory,' he whispered slyly in her ear, taking her back to the camp and that's what happened to her that changed her forever._**

_**Once back at the hell camp, a collar of the Vow of Silence was placed on her neck and she was terribly beaten by all the torture options…Rathan teaching her to be obedient and never turn down an order from anyone, even her family who was killed shortly after Lyle was burned for trying to escape with Loreena…and that's how she started running for her life that night, and met that one person she could trust.**_

She stopped running and hid inside an old log by a large pond, relaxing with relief in her mind as the footsteps went in the opposite direction.

Once they had gone the other way, she slowly crawled out of the log but only stopped to see a pack of Merciless Wolves standing a few feet away from her. 'Oh no, they must've caught my scent as I was running and must've followed me!' she thought, remembering the skills her father taught her: never make any sudden moves when standing before a pack of Merciless Wolves.

They snarled before her, drool hanging on the edge of their jaws, showing the hunger and lust reflected in their hellfire eyes. She whimpered softly as they circled her slowly, though she didn't dare move. A small breeze sent her falling to her knees and shivering, and the wolves leapt in to feed. "SOMEONE HELP ME!" she yelled, but her voice was soon choked with fear and tears as the leader began biting her arm.

Her scream sent the wind to pick up and seem more threatening as a figure appeared in sight, and the wolves started running after her savior.

But her rescuer was too strong for the wolves and pretty soon it was raining wolf skin, blood and bones. She trembled with fear as the figure came closer but she was shocked to see that the figure was about her age, or at least two hundred years older (which means two years in my fic!).

He had red hair sticking up with a single white horn on his head and he had bright ice blue eyes, he was wearing white pants with two white stripes of fabric crisscrossing on his chest…not to mention he had big muscles for a little wind master and that he had a cute smile with two small fangs poking out.

"Doncha kno' 's dangerous 'ere a' noight lassie?" he asked, his childish Scottish accent making her smile a little as he held out his hand. "Let me help yu up." His smile was kind of goofy but she seemed to like him, brushing herself off but held her arm tight from the wolf attack. "Does tha' hurt?" he asked quietly, examining the wide teeth marks. She didn't answer, so he knew something was preventing her from talking.

And then he saw the collar on her neck that had the language of the Netherworld on it. "Yu 're from tha' camp aren't yu?" he asked softly, she nodded and looked down. He walked closer to her and tried to get the collar off but his hand was shocked and he stepped back a little. "Wha's yu're name lassie?" She pointed to the collar and he saw her name imprinted on the top in black print: LOREENA. "Me name is Jin, noice t' meet yu Loreena." He shook her undamaged hand, then took her bleeding arm and whispered ancient healing words of his clan.

Soon enough, the bite mark was gone and nothing but dried blood remained. She smiled as thank you and he smiled nervously as he studied her for a bit, rubbing the back of his head nervously.

Her hair was died black with tar, her face had a couple of scratches and her black working kimono worn out and her skin was pale as ever. She noticed he was studying her and she felt tears come to her eyes, but he banished them away with his small hand.

"Yu're a Night Maiden, 'ren't yu?" he asked and she nodded sadly, pointing to her now black hair, trying to make him understand it was once another color.

He seemed to get the idea and told her to wash her hair in the pond ahead, and that her real hair color would come back in no time at all. She seemed to believe him and walked over and dipped her head inside the clear water…and he was right. Her hair was now back to bright auburn and shone brightly in the moonlight, and she ran back to him to show him.

"Told yu it would work," he assured her and led her to the small cabin by the pond.

It was warm and cozy inside, the scent of lemon, rosemary and berries filled the room and Loreena looked around in excitement. Jin led her to far side of the cabin by the window and gave her a towel to dry her hair, and he laughed when she shook her hair and little bits of water splashed in his face.

The cabin had a long looking burgundy colored couch with big fluffy looking white pillows, a small fire glowing brightly in the hole by the wall. A couple of beds were made neatly and extra blankets were stacked nicely by the beds, and Loreena noticed that dried herbs were hanging from the ceiling.

"Yu hungry a' all?" he wondered, turning to see her exploring the small space. She nodded gratefully and followed him as he led her outside where he started a fire and stuck two dead ducks on a large cooking stick and they watched them cook.

While they waited, Jin wandered off and came back with fresh fruit such as ripe red and green apples, all kinds of berries, almonds and water canteens. Her eyes showed amazement that he was so strong and clever for someone as young as her, but she helped him set up their dinner and took out her special Night Knife and cut the duck into sections.

After they ate, while she was helping putting the fire out, Jin noticed the necklace on Loreena's neck and he walked over to look at it. She undid the clasp and let it drop in his hand.

"Is dis wha' I think 't is?" he asked in amazement, surprised as the stone changed to pure white and he held it up to the moonlight…the white color in the stone remained. "Dis is a Mirror stone!"

She looked at it with him and when he gave it back to her, the stone changed to pure black. "I 'eard tha' stone loik dis are supposed to possess amazin' powers. Where di' yu get dis from?" She wanted to tell him but she couldn't find a way to explain of how Lyle gave it to her before he was killed by Rathan.

He saw that she couldn't explain since she was forced to be mute, so he hooked it back on for her then led her back inside, for thunder threatened rain. They left the seeds of the berries and the bones of the duck to be soaked in the rain; the only thing that mattered was not getting wet.

The fire welcomed warmth as they both sat down and nibbled on the last of the berries in silence. Then before the embers died, Jin put more wood inside the hole and the fire continued to burn.

But suddenly, Loreena started crying and Jin put a hand on her shoulder. "Wha's wrong Loreena?" he asked, nervous if he did anything to offend her. She looked at him with watery eyes and looked around the room, and he seemed to get her idea. "Yu never really 'ad a home, yu miss yu're family?" he guessed and she nodded and started crying again.

He really didn't know what to do, but he scooted closer and hugged her close, letting her cry for a while and settle down. She was surprised inside that she was being held and comforted by a complete stranger that was alone like her…had no family to look up to while growing up. But she hugged him too for a little bit, wanting to share her pain and loneliness with Jin.

He released her when she sat up and wiped her face, but she smiled and grabbed a pillow and threw it at him. He was shocked by her reaction but when he realized she was snickering he grabbed the same pillow and hit her this time and they started to have a pillow fight.

They jumped up and down on the couch, and then started running all over the room, hitting and dodging each other's hits. The pillow fight lasted a while longer before Loreena surrendered and yawned sleepily.

"Tha' was fun!" Jin said cheerfully, dropping tired on the couch next to her. She nodded and yawned again, the sound making her more cute looking, but out of the blue Jin started tickling her and they laughed again as they wrestled on the couch trying not be tickled by the other.

But Jin stopped when Loreena fell off the couch and hit her head but she just laughed hysterically and jumped back on the couch but yawned again, totally tired out from fun.

"Moight as weel git some sleep," he said tiredly, jumping on one of the beds. She followed and sat next to him by the bed and prayed to the Gods above for peace and for the torture to end.

After the prayer, they got into each of the two beds and fell asleep within a few minutes, the storm not bothering them at all.

When morning came, it was cloudy and misty when Jin woke Loreena up by jumping on the bed and starting another pillow fight. She was awake instantly and attacked him back with her pillow and it lasted longer than the other last night.

But it didn't last long before their stomachs growled louder than the sound of hitting pillows, so they carefully went outside to get breakfast.

They ate more apples and drank lots more water, and then Jin found some bread left over in the small cupboard next to his bed so they together made toast with fresh raspberry and gooseberry jam.

After that, they were going to go back inside but Jin spotted two tall looking demons searching the house. They started trashing the place apart, and they both ran into the forest quietly.

After hiding in large thick bushes, they caught their breath and she scooted closer to Jin as she heard Jacknife and Rathan come closer but was glad to hear that they didn't bring their three headed dogs to hunt them down easier.

"Who 're t'ose demons?" he asked her softly, she pointed to her collar and he was shocked that the demons who were chasing them two of the four leaders of the camp Loreena was from.

She wrapped her small arms around his arm in fear, the demons coming closer. He looked around carefully, and then looked back at her, taking her hands in his.

"Will I see yu again Loreena?" he asked quickly, her eyes weren't sure but she undid the necklace and gave it to him. She mouthed the words to him what to do and he did so, using his wind powers to break the stone in half, one piece white and one piece black, the golden wings supporting the stone were also broken down the middle.

They took each other's hands and whispered an oath, trying to hurry up for the demons were almost onto their trial. "I Jin, of th' Wind Clan promise yu Loreena tha' we will meet again. An' when we do, I will protect yu from them," he said, she mouthed the words best she could.

"Goodbye, Loreena," he whispered sadly, putting the stone in his pocket and kissed her cheek, then they tried to run out of the bushes to try and get away from Rathan and Jacknife.

But the demons were faster and caught the children from behind, Jacknife holding Jin and Rath holding Loreena by her auburn hair.

"Seems like our little troublemaker dislikes the way we do things," Rathan said to his partner, Jacknife nodded but suddenly let go of Jin as the wind demon bit deeply into the ice demon's hand.

"You little maggot!" Jacknife cursed, but Rathan held him back. "We got what he came for, we can't mess with little runts like him, he'd be too stubborn to break," Rathan assured his companion, Jacknife disappeared and started jumping from tree to tree back to the castle.

Jin tried to follow them but Rathan used his Bind Dagger to pin Jin against the tall tree, and he extended his wings and started flying away. "LOREENA!" Jin called out, trying to escape to help Loreena. Loreena struggled to get free of Rathan's grip on her but it was no use.

But suddenly, she felt this strange power come from her half of the stone. She felt the enormous power of the collar cease and she felt her voice come back, but only for a few seconds.

"JIN!" she yelled, her voice like an angel and high and sweet sounding. Rathan wanted to cover his ears from the sound but he tightened his grip on Loreena's waist and he made her go unconscious.

Jin finally got down from the knife and ran back home, but it was trashed everywhere. He stepped back when he saw the red writing on the wall above the fire hole, a curse written in red demon blood:

YE WHO BREAKS THE LAW OF BLACK CROSS FORTRESS SHALL NEVER SEE DAYLIGHT AGAIN! THE DEPTHS OF THE NETHERWORLD CURSES YOU FOR ETERNITY!

"Nah, not Loreena," Jin whispered, feeling hot tears of anger run down his heartbroken face. "I will find 'er…an' kill those meanies!" he swore, but kept his cool and started cleaning up his damaged home but didn't dare clean off the demon curse.

'This is a' me fault,' he thought. 'I failed her, but I will see 'er again. I promised her after all.'

TO BE CONTINUED…

****


	3. Shattering Punishments

Chapter 3

Shattering Punishments

_800 years later…_

Everyday to her was dark, bloody and nothing but painful ones she could never escape. 'It's been 800 years now,' she told herself, not bothering to fight the fire demon guards that were to take her to the center of the camp.

Everyday that past since she met Jin, Loreena was sentenced by Rathan and the other three leaders to go through all the punishments for 1000 years, but though she had two hundred years of her sentence left, it all was hell for her. It took a few days for the leaders to decide what to do with her, but they would have more fun taking turns doing the punishments.

The first punishment was 2,000 lashes with a poison whip, but the poison only stunned her.

The leaders were kind of chicken when it came to killing someone, they didn't want their plan to be spoiled of releasing the entire Netherworld by using the prisoners as sacrifices. Jacknife stepped forward with his whip that had frostbite like stings when it hit you in the back.

Loreena could hear the prisoners go quiet at sometimes but other times, some cheered, ones who blamed her for their punishments. Some were quietly praying that she wouldn't die, but she knew she would never hear the words of mercy from her mother and father.

Her whole family was killed once she was taken back to the camp that day she was with Jin in the woods. The lashes were finally done and she was taken by the arms fiercely by the fire guards that flipped her over so she faced DarkEyes.

The good looking vampire smirked at her slyly, and then started beating her senselessly unarmed. She was weak and dizzy from the icy sting of the whip and couldn't fight back; he always had the upper hand when it came to fighting her. Other Night Maidens wanted to give her their energy so she could fight, but Pyroblood kept the power transfers out of range with his Fire Seal.

When DarkEyes time was almost up, he stopped beating her and took her beaten body in his arms and kissed her throat. She suddenly screamed as his fangs cut into her skin from the same mark he always used, his bites never healed on a prisoner's throat, it remained forever as a lesson of discipline if someone's punishment was light.

Since her punishments started right at nightfall, they always lasted three hours and the last was six before sunrise. No one was allowed in the sunlight, and for that everyone was pale as the moon itself.

Pyroblood's Punishment was Loreena fighting a hungry Merciless Wolf, and if she survived she was to fight him. Usually she won by using her hypnotic charm but never had enough energy to even launch two attacks on him, her weakest of attacks never had any effect on him if he used his Flame Circle which protected him and her energy was mirrored back at her.

Though Pryoblood hardly ever fought, he was a master of the arts of Pyro Magic.

Her last, longest punishment was done by Rathan, the strongest of the four leaders. He was a master of illusions and shape shifting, he would always make her believe he was Jin, but unfortunately she always fell for it.

Then, he would pull her up into the air by the arms thousands of feet into the air, then he dropped her into a pit of hundreds of razor sharp spikes that went through her entire body, but she would never die, the collars every prisoner possessed had a special spell that would resurrect them back into life again.

Rathan would do the same process eleven times till the sun was just seconds before rising, then he and the four leaders led all the camp back into their pitch black huts for the day.

He would take her into the Dungeon of Eternal Pain and she would remain there: cold, numb from pain, bloody and untreated. She rarely ate and never had the strength to do the daily chores for the four leaders.

But the worse part of the punishment was at every new red moon; they would take her to the Room of Massacre and chain her to the plank that faced the moon and the view of the barren valley, her back facing the four leaders behind her.

In the background, she heard a roaring fire and the sound of metal and hot lead contacting one another. First, Jacknife would start a huge fire in the pit in the middle of the room. Then, Pyroblood would take out one of his curse knives and sharpened it to full sharpness while DarkEyes melted a small cauldron black lead. Rathan would heat the knife till its blade was white hot and bright orange. Then, DarkEyes would dip the knife's blade into the hot lead and handed the knife to Rathan.

Loreena closed her eyes tight as she heard Rathan's graceful steps behind her and suddenly screamed bloody murder as the moon demon made another black cross on her back she had over six hundred small painful crosses on her back.

She felt the lead mix with her bloodstream and the heat of the blade and lead slowly burn her skin to a crisp black, the sharpness of the knife drawing her delicate blood easily.

"Happy New Moon slave," Rathan whispered softly in her ear. Loreena would've killed him if she was at full strength, hearing the word being said to her made her boil with anger, but she could do nothing and would never be able to.

But that night of the eight hundredth year, she felt strange lying down in her cell. She felt a strange voice call out to her, her half of the Power Wing Stone glowing brightly in the moon's red light. But she ignored it and bit off another scream of pain from the newly made cross on her back.

The voice and the glowing of the stone kept coming back to her whenever she ignored it, so finally she listened and something happened in a fast blur.

She felt her spirit energy return to her and her wings mend by themselves by the strange magic. 'Is…Is someone calling me?' she asked herself softly, turning from side to side again from the pain that burned and shook her body, the visions of what happened the night she came back from the woods.

She screamed at the image and tried to sit up, and suddenly her wings took flight into the night, breaking through the steel bars and into the cool night air.

'What in heaven is going on?' she wanted to say, but she felt the pain from the cross suddenly die down. She flew freely across the night's now cloudy sky, the scent of fresh pine calming her stiff body.

But the freedom didn't last long, for an Exploding Arrow pierced her wing and she was down on the ground outside the camp, the sound of hungry wolves and three headed dogs with the leader coming her way. She immediately prayed for a successful escape, and then with all her last bits of power, she ran off into the woods beyond the hellhole she despised.

It wasn't long before the wolves and three headed dogs were barely on her heels, but every time they came close she used her spike studded boots to kick them back in the rose bushes, soon she wasn't being followed as much anymore as she crossed into the rebel territory in the mountains.

She hid inside a log to catch her breath, her energy running out by the second, and the sounds of the dogs, wolves and angry masters could be heard again. She knew if she stayed here the dogs would sniff her out and she would surely die if she went back to the camp.

Using her ninja like stealth, she slipped out of the rotting log and ran silently through the forest. She didn't care if the semi sharp pine needles and tree branches pricked at her body, she was used to pain, bloodshed and death around her, she had grown up with it every since she walked into the camp 850 years ago.

But she stopped at a steep hill of thick bushes and trees to see Rathan and Jacknife in view, the wolves and dogs must've fallen behind. She could feel their magic in the collar pulling her slowly towards them, but she resisted hard and before she plunged backwards down the steep hill, she threw a Night Curse Dagger at the leaders.

She heard a scream of pain and a little of blood spray. She was consumed in blackness as she rolled fiercely down the hill, then she was stopped by a long tree branch that had caught on her black kimono and back, she was hanging limply from the branch, bloody all over, body beaten to a pulp and a nasty hit to the head.

TO BE CONTINUED…


	4. Warm and Cold Welcome

Chapter 4

A Warm and Cold Welcome

The pale morning light crept slowly out from the rainy clouds of last night, and Touya stretched while yawning lazily. 'Why is that every time I'm the only one who remembers training times?' he asked himself, suddenly aware of the stench of blood.

"Blood coming from the woods?" he wondered, and then running into the forest to see what was dead or just injured.

About a mile up the steep hill, he found a girl stuck in a tree with a collar around her neck. 'This can't be good, she's a runaway from that camp of demons from the Netherworld,' he thought, cursing as he tried to get her out of the tree, falling over as she was pulled and landed on top of him.

But then he remembered Jin talking about a girl met a long time ago who ran away from the camp, and she matched the description. 'I better get her back to take care of her, but what about Ryshio finds out?' he asked himself, but shrugged and got her onto his back. "Screw what Ryshio says, I'm doing this for Jin's sake."

Glad to know everyone was still asleep or just lying in bed, Touya took the bloody girl into his room where he prepared to mend her wounds. He was wondering of how to get the collar off, but every time he tried to pry it off, it shocked him and knocked him against the wall.

"Crap that thing's stubborn! Oh well, I'll figure something out soon enough," he decided and got together the right herbs and hot water, using his ice powers to numb her body so no pain would come to her.

Jin tossed and turned in his hammock as images of Loreena came back to him, he always dreamed about her ever since she was taken back to the camp. He heard Ryshio's voice at his door and sat up quickly, falling out of his hammock…again.

He rubbed his behind and cursed as he stepped out to do training for the next Dark Tournament. "Doncha yu have respect fer the ones sleepin' Ryshio?" Jin asked impatiently, welcoming the new day with his usual lazy yawn. Ryshio ignored Jin and went to wake Gamma and Touya up, leaving Jin to think about Loreena again.

Touya jumped when he heard knocking at his door, knowing it was Ryshio to remind him about training. "GO AWAY RYSHIO, I'M COMING DOWN ALREADY!" the ice demon snapped and the footsteps faded away along with suspicious talking from Gamma and Ryshio.

Touya sighed with relief, finishing the head wound on the girl and used his ice healing abilities to heal her minor wounds. He wiped his forehead and stared down at her, and decided to tell Jin later. Grabbing his weapon, he jumped out his window and went to do training with his comrades.

The sun was setting when Loreena opened her eyes and sat up to see her surroundings, not sure where she was. The last she remembered was screaming when she threw her knife at Rathan and Jacknife, then blackness when she felt herself rolling down the steep hill.

'I'm not dead, I thought jumping down would end my life,' she thought herself, checking for her weapons and her half the Power Wing stone, sighing with relief they were still in their places.

Voices of two men made her turn around, and she saw two figures standing in front of the doors talking to each other, not noticing she was awake. She suddenly heard an Irish voice speak up, and she listened close, gasping to know that Jin was out there!

Jin opened the door and stood there to see Loreena staring at him from Touya's bed, the silence lasting a long time. "I found her this morning, stuck in a tree and seriously injured," Touya explained, breaking the silence and making Jin turn around as he told him what happened.

Then Jin turned to Loreena and walked closer to see if it was really her, his expression the same as hers.

"I con' believe 's yu Loreena," Jin whispered quietly as he sat by her side and took her hand. She smiled and hugged him tightly; he was still shocked but hugged her back and held her for what seemed like forever. "Wha' happened t' yu tha' night?" She wanted to say everything, but pointed to the collar and Jin sighed sadly, then they turned to see Ryshio and Gamma standing in the doorway.

"Why is this girl here Jin, no one is allowed here!" Ryshio exploded, seeing the collar on Loreena's neck and suddenly smirked evilly.

"She's that runaway from that camp by the mountains isn't she? She's worth reward money after all…" he was cut off as Jin and Touya stood in front of her.

"She's going nowhere, NOT IN HER CONDITION!" Touya shot back, his ice energy building up if the two walked closer, a massive wind picked up around the room.

"No' dis toime Ryshio, 'he's with me," Jin warned, his wind picking up furiously. Ryshio just laughed and pushed them aside to get a good look at Loreena, taking her face in his hand.

"This is her alright, I got a message from one of the leaders last night of her disappearance," he said lowly, stepping back when Loreena smacked his hand away, her claws cutting his hand deeply, then slipped back into her fingers.

Ryshio stepped back in frustration of his cut hand, his earth energy threatening to burst any second. "Get this wench out of here now Jin, you know she's will never be one of us," Gamma threatened, but stepped back as Loreena sat up and faced Ryshio, her half of the Mirror Stone glowing brightly and her true voice was heard.

"Let me fight you Ryshio, if I win I become one of you, no exceptions. If I lose you can kill me any way you wish, but no one else helps or cheats during the fight or they'll get an even worse beating than this bastard in front of me," she explained coldly, grabbing Ryshio by the neck.

"Never use the word "slave" in my face again, keep your mouth shut if you don't want to be humiliated in front of your comrades by a Night Maiden."

Gamma and Ryshio stepped back in fear of what race she was, Night Maidens were known to be superior S-class demons with power strong enough to destroy two worlds without even breaking a sweat.

"Give me two days to train and rest, then we'll see who'll get a harder butt kicking," Loreena whispered slyly, the stone's glow fading and she was mute.

For a long moment, the demons were silent then Ryshio and Gamma gave up and stormed out the door. Touya and Jin caught Loreena before she hit the ground, and helped her back in the bed.

"The stone drained your energy didn't it?" Touya asked coolly, Loreena nodded and yawned sleepily.

"I'll take 'er t' me room Touya, yu need yours after all," Jin said quietly, lifting Loreena up and carried her bridal style to his room, leaving Touya tired for sleep.

Jin set Loreena into his hammock gently and pulled the white thin sheet over her and smiled, taking her hand again.

"'S so good t' see yu again," he whispered, getting in next to her. "I thoug' I would never see yu again." Loreena nodded again and snuggled closer to his arm for warmth, her head rested gently on his shoulder. He held her hand and stroked it with his thumb slowly, watching her fall asleep, glad she was together with him again after eight hundred years.

The moon shone brightly into the small, almost empty room and Jin looked at it with admiring eyes. He felt Loreena stir and look at him with soft eyes, turning to see the moon. "'S beautiful isn' 't?" he asked her and she nodded, her hand still in his .

Suddenly, Jin thought of an idea and got of the hammock and walked to the open balcony. "Come wit' me Loreena," he whispered softly, holding out his hand. She was curious about his idea and a little afraid, but she could live for a little adventure and took his hand and stood on the balcony.

A soft, swift breeze whipped across the cloudless sky and the night air smelled salty of the sea and the pine from the trees.

"I wan' t' take yu fer a ride, do yu wan' t'?" he asked, pointing to the sky. Loreena was freaked out, but she trusted him and nodded, holding his hand tightly. He smiled and stroked her hand. "Don' be afraid Loreena, I'll always hol' on." His assurance made her calm down a little, but the sudden lift off made her gasp, but soon they were 200 ft. in the air.

The wind felt good against her face as she flew beside Jin, smiling as they dove for the ground then flew just above the sea. She dipped her hand in and let it trail across the sea, suddenly flicking water on Jin's face.

He was shocked for a second, and then flicked her back harder and they had a flicking water fight, Loreena's face and hair were soaking wet after a while.

Soon after that they gave up the water fight and continued to explore the starry sky, but Loreena suddenly was thrown up in the air by Jin. She soared through the air but she started falling after a few seconds, but Jin caught her bridal style and gave a goofy smile.

"Sory, di' tha' scare yu?" he asked nervously, but she hugged his neck lovingly and he gave her another goofy, cheesy smile that made her laugh silently.

Jin whispered words of his race and placed two fingers on Loreena's forehead and whispered the short chant twice before letting her go and she was floating just like him. "I gave yu soom o' me power," he explained, laughing happily. "Go on, try 't out."

Loreena flew skyward and twirled around freely across the sky, shocked she was living a dream she had when she was little.

She had dreamed that one night Jin came to visit her, gave her his power and she waltzing in the sky like a free person like she used to be. She felt tears of happiness come to her eyes as she spun and did flips higher into the night sky, the air carrying her like an invisible river.

Jin soon joined her and he taught her some defense moves for the fight against Ryshio, but they screwed the training after three minutes and decided to play tag for a while.

Jin eventually got tackled by surprise by Loreena four times. They laughed together like they were chibis again, but got tired and lay on their backs for a long time just looking at the sky.

Jin pointed out constellations and told her about every one of them, even told her what happened after she was taken by Rathan. "I joined th' Shinobis after me house was destroyed by a huge storm. I though' bout yu every noight, wonderin' if yu weren't dead I did," he explained, yawning and sat up. "Yu tired?" She nodded and yawned with him, taking his hand as they flew back to the Shinobi dojo.

It started raining just when they got on the balcony, and they sighed with relief they weren't out any longer. Loreena got back in the hammock but Jin sat up against the wall with another thin white sheet. Loreena looked at him in confusion and he sighed and explained.

"We aren' allowed t' sleep wit' anyone who's no' in our clan," he said, mocking with Ryshio in a funny voice, she snickered and turned to sleep.

"Goodnight Loreena," Jin whispered, yawning again loudly before lying down on the cold wood floor. She wanted to say the same but she sighed in defeat and went to sleep, not aware of the intruder in the shadows holding a sword that faintly gleamed in the dim light of the clouds.

TO BE CONTINUED…


	5. Awakening of the Darkness

Chapter 5

Awakening of the Darkness

The intruder stepped closer to the sleeping Jin and held up a poisoned knife, and drove it down onto Jin's head, but he caught and glared at the intruder.

"So, yu wan' t' play dirty tricks now do yu?" Jin asked the intruder, grabbing his arm and throwing him down, the intruder's face was Touya himself.

Loreena stirred but didn't wake up and Jin turned back to Touya, who seemed to be out of some sort of daze.

"Where…Why am I in here?" Touya asked Jin softly, rubbing his head as he stood up.

"Yu were tryin' t' kill me Touya," Jin told him quietly but coldly, his blue eyes staring at the clueless ice ninja.

Touya wondered still what had happened, but he felt a sudden sharp pain in his neck his felt around felt two holes in his throat. "Wha' is it Touya?" Jin asked, his mouth wide when he saw the two bite marks: the edges all black and sick looking.

"How should I know Jin, one minute I was in my room asleep, the next I'm in your room with two marks on my throat? Do you think I would know?" he shot at the wind Shinobi, who gave him a sudden goofy smile.

"I guess yu would't know now would yu?" he asked, but got serious when Touya's serious face kicked in.

Both were quiet for a while, and then walked back to Touya's room to talk for a bit. Jin shut the door softly then turned to Touya who was staring at him, and then they started talking.

"I'm thinkin' those camp leaders know where we ar' Touya," Jin started, his face getting serious for once. "S' just a though' but I think they know she's 'ere." Touya thought for a minute or so, and then nodded in agreement.

"I think you're right Jin, but how could they know, they retreated back to the camp that night she fell down the hill and no soldiers have come by and asked us," the ice youkai said lowly, then turned to the door.

"We'll say nothing of this to her until we get more information, or it happens again, she might be able to tell us in her own way." Jin nodded and said goodnight, walking to his room to see Loreena still asleep, safe and sound.

'She looks s' beautiful, but I have t' focus on her tranin',' he told himself, laying back on the wooden floor and fell asleep and he snored lightly this time since he had a long case of snoring and saying stupid things at night.

For the next day, Jin and Touya helped Loreena train for her fight against Ryshio the next day. They fought against her, helped her train her power occasionally, and even taught her to use different weapons, she turned to be good with a sword and bow.

"You're improving by the hour, usually no one can do that in one day, even a demon like me couldn't do that," Touya complimented. Loreena shoved him playfully, meaning to tell him and Jin to train her till nightfall.

That night, Touya carried a very exhausted Loreena inside Jin's room and set her in the hammock, glad it was over. He gave a small good luck smile then left the room to sleep, the sound of his yawn echoing in the hall.

Jin came in a while later, taking one huge yawn, told her good luck and good night, then started snoring off to his dream land, curled up in a ball like a little boy. She watched him sleep, but shook off every emotion she felt then drifted into a cold blank dream.

(Day of the Fight! Loreena vs. Ryshio)

Morning had finally arrived, but dark gray clouds threatened a pouring rain anytime as they all got up for the fight. Jin and Loreena were the last ones to come out to back of the dojo, her eyes digging fiercely into Ryshio's.

"This should be fun, if you can handle my earthly power," Ryshio said sarcastically, cracking his knuckles to fight. Loreena smiled and stepped forward, no weapons at hand, neither was Ryshio.

"This is a fight to the death mute, no one is allowed to help you or back you up when you are injured," Gamma started, but was knocked to the ground after Jin punched him in the gut.

"Shut yu're mouth!" Jin shouted to the demon on the ground, and then turned to Loreena.

"Hope she makes this Jin, no one can survive Ryshio for more than twenty minutes without them being killed," Touya said quietly, crossing his arms over his chest and stared at the two fighters.

"FIGHT!" Touya shouted, and the fight had begun!

First, Ryshio charged at Loreena with his fists ready but she just stood there then stepped aside from his punches. He started getting pissed off and started using punches and kicks, but she kept avoiding them until she ran behind him and kicked him in the back, making him smack his face against a rock, but he just stood up and laughed.

"You're more impressive then I thought, but let's see how you can handle the wrath of the earth!" he wondered and summoned his clay armor onto his body, then fired clay spikes at her.

But she surprised him with the black metal claws that burst from her fingers, and she sliced through each one he fired as she stepped closer, feeling the power of her stone kick in.

"You know what your problem is?" she asked him, her body exploding with black energy. "You like to hear yourself talk too much, you'll have to do more than that!" she yelled, her eyes glowing red that created a thick fog.

Ryshio stopped firing his spikes and waited patiently, then went into the dirt when she snuck up from behind and stabbed him in the legs with her black metal claws. She smiled to herself, but was surprised that got up and fired a rock spike at her, but her form was fake!

'Crap, she can create copies of herself while this fog is work,' he thought, firing spikes everywhere. 'Come on…Where are you?'

Then he smiled coldly as the fog cleared and he saw her in the trees, his rock spikes through her entire body.

But what amazed him was that she pulled everyone out with ease and she ran towards him at amazing speed and punched him square in the mouth.

His back was slammed against a tree, but he just wiped his mouth and glared at her as he increased the amount of clay armor on his body, his armor spiked with rocks and sharp roots.

But she laughed at him, her eyes now glowing stone gray…and his body was frozen in place. 'How is this possible?' Ryshio asked himself, screaming in pain as she ran all around him, continuing to stab his body with her black metal claws, his armor breaking as if it were glass.

Her claws ripped into his body, leaving his shirt half torn, then she gathered her black energy together again, the rain finally coming down like waterfalls.

"DARK ECLIPSE!" she yelled in a deep sinister voice and the entire sky became black, like when a lunar or sun eclipse happened but longer.

The Shinobi clan couldn't see a thing for a while, and then they all saw Loreena in the sky and glowing darkly.

Her energy surrounded her as she charged downwards towards the still frozen Ryshio, her screech like a bat's.

But her attack was countered when Ryshio was suddenly unfrozen and a huge sandstorm was fired at the Night Maiden. She screamed as rock and clay spikes plunged into her body, her energy completely disappearing.

"EARTH NIGHTMARE TWIST!" his voice echoed across the area, his earth energy was fired in razor earth swords and Loreena fell fast down into a ditch of spikes he had created earlier during the eclipse.

Her entire body was pierced by the sharp spikes, her blood slowly filling the ditch though her body was slightly twitching in some places and broken up. Ryshio's twister faded away and he looked down into the ditch and laughed for his victory, his short black hair plastered to his face of the waterfall like rain.

"I knew she wasn't good enough to beat me, looks I kind of underestimated her too much," he said to himself, not caring who heard. "She was just a worthless runaway that couldn't stand how she lived and decided to see if she was hardcore enough. She has no family, no friends...NO ONE COULD CARE LESS ABOUT A STUPID NIGHT MAIDEN WHO WAS LOWER THAN A WEAK SLAVE!"

Jin glared at the leader and snarled at his disgusting words, his wind energy swirling around him fast and fierce. "Calm down Jin, we can't do anything to help her now…she's dead," Touya told him slowly in a soft voice, watching Ryshio look into the bloody death ditch.

Jin calmed down but sighed sadly and stared down at the soaking ground, the cold not bothering him at all, he felt nothing now.

"I've heard the Night Maidens were the dominant species of Spirit World centuries ago, but they soon became endangered because they had a soft spot for love," Ryshio started talking again.

"How can a race so stupid be so vulnerable and fight when they needed to? They all deserve to die, every one of them. They give us demons bad names for their mistakes! Just seeing this stupid, worthless, weak demon's blood spill entertains me, there's nothing killing a hotheaded stupid slave like her!"

He turned to walk away, but a sick sound made him turn around and face the ditch to see long black lines of energy. He heard more sick sounds then saw her bloody head rise to the surface, and it was healing fast and her glare made him stand back.

"Shut up…Shut up…SHUT UP YOU WEALKING!" she yelled at him, her body rising on wavy black wings.

"You think I'm worthless, weak and stupid…and a slave!" she asked him, her power off the scale now as she levitated out of the ditch, her smile cold and evil. She charged at him full force with full energy and started giving him the extreme beating of his life.

She kicked and punched his stomach to make him throw up blood, used her extended claws to slice through his body and rip him apart…then used her ultimate attack to finish him off. "You want to know what class my race is?" she asked him softly, her energy rising extremely off the scale.

"We're the highest of S class!" She folded her wings into her back, and then stood still with her arms stretched out at her sides. "NIGHT REAPER!"

What happened her attack made Jin, Touya and the still down on the ground Gamma shake with fear as her entire body disappeared under her black spirit energy, then a bleeding skeleton corpses with rotting bloody fresh covering most of the body appeared out of her energy.

Its eyes were hanging at odd angles out of the sockets, a thin black robe appearing around the demon. They could hear laughter behind the bloody reaper, but they couldn't tell who it was.

The reaper's screech made Ryshio's bones shake with fear, his blood running cold and his heart stopped beating.

"NNNNOOOO!" he yelled, then a sick gurgling sound came from his open mouth as the reaper's hands went inside his body and started ripping the inside of his body apart, the reaper's head started devouring Ryshio's head slowly.

Blood covered the entire back of the dojo, most of the trees splashed with the earth Shinobi's blood, then the reaper disappeared and Loreena became visible again but she seemed exhausted.

Jin ran past Ryshio's broken body to check on Loreena while Touya dealt with Gamma.

"Ar' yu alroight Loreena?" Jin asked, shaking her gently. She stirred and screamed when she saw Ryshio's decapitated and broken body, burying her face in Jin's shoulder crying in fear.

'Huh, why is she so scared when she won the fight?' Jin asked his confused mind, but held Loreena close to soothe her.

Touya nearly gagged when he saw what the strange demon had done to Ryshio, but walked past to Jin who was holding Loreena.

"What the hell was that, I've never been so afraid in my whole life," Touya wanted to know but Jin changed the subject when they decided to throw Ryshio's body into the ditch and bury him.

Night had come and the rain was coming hard still, but they had buried Ryshio's and Gamma's dead bodies.

(Touya killed him, had to surprise all of you!)

After that, they had asked Loreena questions referring to her extreme energy and the strange demon, but they realized that she was mute again and could no longer talk.

But they could tell she was confused and worried of what she did, so they assured her she could stay with them as long as she wanted and that they'd help her find a way to figure out how to kill the four slave leaders.

That night while she was asleep, Touya and Jin snuck out into the hallway to talk about the fight.

"I guess it is possible she's an S class demon, since I could feel her energy grow off the scale," Touya whispered.

"But still I don't understand how the weird demon was summoned." Jin nodded and sat down against the wall, thinking the same thing, but he gave up after a while, a hard knock at the front dojo door surprising them.

They opened a door to see a Netherworld demon guard standing with a piece of paper in his hand.

"Read this, then report to the Black Fortress in four days…no exceptions," the guard told them, shoving the paper in their faces then walked off into the roaring rain.

The two examined the paper that said:

_You are contestants and guests to_

_the Dark Massacre Tournament!_

_Come with seven fighting members per team and try to beat the most ruthless demons ever seen. The final team will face the four leaders of the _

_Black Fortress leaders: DarkEyes, Pyroblood, Jacknife and Rathan._

_Everyone who receives this paper are officially in the tournament, report to the fortress when your fighting team is ready. Anyone who rejects this offer will slaughtered by the four leaders themselves in front of the audience with every torture possible. Good luck to all fighters!_

Jin and Touya were speechless at the words written on paper, surprised the Dark Tournament was starting again after the stadium fell at Hanging Neck Island.

"Six fighters must report to the fortress, this is stupid!" Touya hissed quietly, slamming the paper on the table in the middle of the main room on the ground floor.

"I don' get it either Touya," Jin agreed, looking at the paper over and over again. "Where ar' we goin' t' get three more fighters?"

Both were silent for a moment, then thought of only four people who were their last allies: Yusuke, Kurama, Hiei, and Kuwabara.

"Jin, it's going to be a long day tomorrow for us," Touya told his friend softly as they walked back up to hall where the bedrooms where.

"Righ' Touya, I kno' I kno'," the wind demon responded, yawning as he said good night then went back into his room, the wood floor calling his name.

TO BE CONTINUED…


	6. Finding Help for Battle

Chapter 6

Finding Help for Battle

With success of appearing in the Human World Jin and Touya came out of the woods, seeing it was in the middle of the night on Earth.

"Do yu think leavin' her was a good idea Touya?" Jin asked quietly, walking down the empty street into the city.

"Yes, you never know where demons from that place are looking for her, now be quiet!" he scolded softly, looking around for Yusuke's apartment, then suddenly ran up the nearest stairs to his apartment. Jin went the other way to Kuwabara's.

Yusuke heard a quiet pounding sound on his window and yawned sleepily, nearly screaming when he saw Touya outside. He opened the window and closed it quietly so his mother wouldn't hear.

"What do you want Touya, this better be good," Yusuke yawned, sounding annoyed.

"Get dressed and come with me, we've got a problem back in Spirit World," was all Touya said before opening the window again and jumping out. Yusuke groaned and went into the living room to tell his mother he was going with a friend to the mountains and would be back in a week or so.

Yusuke pulled his hood over his messed up hair as he saw Touya waiting for him, then they went to Kurama's place to tell him the same thing.

Kuwabara jumped out of his bed to see Jin floating in front of the window and let him in, hoping Shizuru was still asleep.

"We've got lots of wiggles down in Spirit Worl'," Jin whispered, hoping the idiot would understand.

"What kind of problem, does it involve my love Yukina?" he asked nervously. Jin sighed to see that he did understand, but got the wrong idea as always.

"Come wit' me an' you'll foind out," he instructed, flying out the window to wait for him. But for once, Kuwabara was ready to go in a second, and Jin thought he'd have to wait another hundred years before he was ready.

Touya and Yusuke snuck through the unlocked back door of Kurama's place and softly went up the stairs to Kurama's room, hoping his mother wouldn't catch them.

Yusuke opened the door and Touya closed it softly, and then walked to the bed to wake him up by shaking him gently. The fox was a bit drowsy but sat up and asked them what was going on.

"There's a problem in Spirit World and they need our help, that's all he told me. Now come on, we have to leave now!" Yusuke hissed quietly, and Kurama sighed, telling them he'd be right back.

The two had to wait only ten minutes when Kurama returned and started getting ready, then they were off in a five minutes, hoping Hiei would show up as well, since he didn't live on Earth after all.

Once Yusuke, Touya and Kurama reached the woods outside, they saw Jin, Kuwabara and even Hiei waiting for them. They got together and the two demons told them what was needed to.

"Some time ago, the Netherworld mysteriously started invading Spirit World and they built a place called Black Cross Fortress and they keep different kinds of demons as slaves. Koenma and the other demons who escape are now in hiding and are hoping to come up with a plan to defeat the Netherworld demons."

"Just last night, we received a message from one of the guards from the fortress telling of a second dark tournament, but this time each team needs seven fighters to compete and we needed four fighters fast."

"But who's the other fighter, if he or she with you?" Kuwabara asked, wondering if the other fighter was a girl and if she was hot. "She's back at Spirit World waiting for us, she's…a Night Maiden," Touya explained.

"What the heck is a Night Maiden, I'm clueless here," Yusuke said suddenly, breaking the long silence. Hiei sighed and turned to him, having a glare as always.

"If you must know, a Night Maiden was known to be the most powerful demon in the world…they were quiet but ruthless demons who showed no mercy when harmed or in danger. They have extended claws to tear enemies apart, and other powers that are unknown to Spirit World. They are a very rare race now, and from what I've heard…there's probably only a hundred or so left," he explained, turning away from Yusuke in annoyance.

"Was she a slave in the fortress, and how did she come across you two?" Kurama asked curiously, and Jin stepped up.

"I knew her since I was a lad, eight 'undred years ago," he began, not really wanting to tell them what so far. "But Touya foun' her in the woods next t' our dojo. She's a good fighter oh yes, she killed Ryshio aft'r all."

The four were shocked of what the wind demon said, but kept their cool and the long silence came again, until Jin got annoyed and started walking to the portal.

"Let' go already, we con' keep her waitin'!" he shouted at them, and they all followed the two demons back to the dojo.

Jin and Touya led the four allies to where a figure in a dark cape, the hood covering it's face was waiting for them, not saying a thing.

"Meet our other fighter, the Night Maiden," Jin said walking over to the figure and talking to her quietly, but the fighter never said a thing.

The wind demon and the figure walked forward to Yusuke and the others, the figure bowing before them like a servant would to a king.

"Well, say something already!" Kuwabara shouted, but jumped back when the figure extended its claws and almost attacked him, but Jin grabbed its arm and shook his head. "They no' enemies, shew 'hem yer face."

The four could tell the figure was afraid but dangerous, but the figure took off the hood and stared at them in fear…her claws going back into her hand.

"WOAH, SHE'S…A BABE!" Kuwabara shouted, running to her and saying stupid things, Loreena flung him over shoulder then faced the others, still afraid.

Yusuke, Kurama and Hiei looked at her back, not sure what to say when Kurama walked forward and extended his hand. "Nice to meet you, my name is Kurama," he said gently, his eyes kind and caring.

Loreena didn't know what to do at first, but took his hand and shook it quickly then stepped back. Kurama was confused, and then Touya came up in front of them and explained.

"The collar on her neck prevents her from speaking, we can't find a way to get it off though," he told them, yawning then told them all goodnight then headed for him room.

"I think I might know how to get it off, but I'll have to see if it works…everyone stand back," Kurama said quietly, taking a rose from his hair then it fused into a whip.

Loreena stood her ground, the muscles in her hands tense and ready to strike at any time, but his eyes assured her she wouldn't be hurt.

"Stay still and don't be scared, I won't kill you," he said to her calmly, standing behind her and concentrated on his power. He felt his true power emerge into his whip and he lashed it at the collar and it snapped off instantly, falling to the ground.

"Genius Kurama," Hiei commented lazily from the window, sitting on a thick tree branch outside.

But Kurama suddenly grunted as the power inside the collar attacked him, eating at his power and soul. His whip disappeared as the power became fiercer, but it didn't last long when Loreena used a small attack and it faded away. She walked over to him and held out her hand, helping him up but kept coughing.

"Thanks…for…removing…it," she whispered between hard coughs, her throat dry and burning for a drink. "Finally…I'm…free. But…not for…long."

"What do you mean for now?" Kuwabara asked. She glared at him, but coughed and fell to her knees. "Spell…cannot…fade…," she tried to say the rest, but managed to after a hard cough, blood dripping down her mouth. "Until…that…man…is…gone!" She coughed again, and more blood splattered out then fell unconscious.

Jin came out from his room, shutting the door softly, and then went back downstairs to where Yusuke, Kuwabara and Kurama were waiting…Hiei had fallen asleep.

"She must've had it rough, wonder how bad it was for her," Kuwabara thought, turning to Jin who stood beside Yusuke and Kurama.

"She had it bad Kuwabara, I've seen her scars no' and then," Jin said sadly, all of them sitting down the long green looking couch. "She 'as twu 'undred crosses burned into her back, and oh those wiggles look bad. I could tell she had it ba' whoile she was with those bastards."

"Will she okay though, we need a good fighter to fight in this so called tournament?" Yusuke asked, stretching his tired arms. Jin nodded and showed them to their rooms for the night, when Kurama caught up the wind demon before he went into his room.

"Can you tell her I apologize for what happened Jin?" Kurama asked quietly, knowing it would be a long night.

"Yep, I'll tell her in th' mornin'," he said and walked into his room.

It was going to be a long night for them…the next day coming with more mysteries and the tournament meeting.

TO BE CONTINUED…


	7. Chasing Revenge Part 1

Chapter 7

Chasing Revenge Part 1

About an hour before the sun came up, Jin woke up the others and told them to get packing for the ship to the tournament was leaving in three days so everyone tried to hurry and prepare for the second Dark Tournament.

"Do you guys think we'll see some familiar people there?" Kuwbara asked as they waited outside for Touya, Jin and Loreena.

"Who knows, but I doubt it since those new demons appeared," Yusuke shrugged as he relaxed against the oak tree behind the dojo. "But who cares? We'll kick their ass just like last time!"

"Obviously you don't think of the other options," Hiei said to Yusuke.

"What do you mean other options; you're not making sense here!"

"What I mean is that anyone we fought before could've been brought back to kill us! Don't be so naïve detective, you should know better!"

"Whatever Hiei, I'll think what I want!"

"Enough, both of you, now isn't the time!" Kurama hissed, and all was silent. Hiei just shrugged and jumped up into a tree, Yusuke just yawned and stretched out under the tree.

"Yu really want t' leave now Loreena?" Jin asked the Night Maiden as he entered his room, Loreena looked to him but didn't say anything.

"I kno' 's hard fer yu, but yu gotta be strong," he said, now beside her and looking at her with determination in his eyes. "Yu must ferget bout th' past, hidin' ferever won' help yu a' all."

Loreena gave a silent sigh and looked up at him with confused eyes, then looked down again, wishing she could speak again.

But she nodded and pulled her hood over her eyes and smiled at her friend, glad he was around to support her. He took her hand and they left the room to join the others who were waiting.

When the two reached the oak tree behind the dojo, they saw Touya and the others waiting for them…then they took off into the forest to the Black Cross Fortress.

Night came and they were a quarter ways out of the woods, and they set up camp for the night, hoping nothing would distract their mission to reach the boat at the fortress.

After everyone ate, they set up sleeping bags that Yusuke, Kuwabara and Kurama had provided, but they all were too anxious to sleep, thoughts of the new enemy and the tournament prevented them for sleeping.

After a few hours past, a howling wind and rain storm had picked up and they all had to move to a cave half a mile from there their camp was, hoping they could keep moving within a few hours.

"So much for a night outdoors," Yusuke complained as he tried to sleep, but the rain and wind kept everyone awake.

"How much further until we reach the fortress?" Kurama asked Touya, and the ice demon stared at him for a while, and then spoke quietly.

"It will take us another day and a half or two until we reach the fortress, but I don't know for sure. Loreena is the only one who knows the way there," Touya told the fox demon, noticing everyone wanted to get out of the haunted forest.

"How is she anyway, is she okay from last night?" Kuwabara asked, and Jin nodded, Loreena's back to them as she watched the storm outside.

"She's okay jus' a wee bit shocked is all," Jin explained, but suddenly stood up and looked outside.

"What is it Jin?" Touya asked suspiciously.

"I see somethin' comin' t'wards us."

"Get down everyone now, we can't anyone see us."

Everyone crawled to the back of the cave and lay still, watching a group of dark figures come into view. They were soldiers from the fortress! Since they couldn't hear what was going on, Kurama slowly crawled closer to the front of the cave to listen to the soldier's conversation.

"Are you sure you saw them come this way?"

"Of course you idiot! I've been following them all day, there's no way I could've lost track of them or that wanted slave girl!"

"Fine, take half the group and stay here while the rest of us shall surround the area to prevent any escape!"

"MOVE OUT!"

"YES, LORD JACKNIFE!"

Kurama crawled back to the end of the cave and told the others the situation, he saw Loreena tense up with anger when he mentioned Jacknife's name.

Loreena's claws extended and everyone felt the cave get cold with the Night Maiden's spirit energy, but Jin put his hand on hers and shook his head but she ignored him and crawled closer to the rainy scene outside.

Jacknife looked around carefully as he wandered in the forest by the cave, listening intently for Loreena to come out and fight him or try to kill him, so he decided to make things for interesting.

"Slave of the Night Maidens, I want to show you something that would be worth your attention!" he called out to the quiet forest, reaching his hand into the pack strapped to his side.

He heard nothing, but somehow knew she was watching and listening and he pulled them out, three bloody decapitated heads.

"Here they are you lowlife slave, the three heads of your family that we killed **_just _**before you escaped…" He paused for a moment and looked around, smirking as he felt her energy pulse everywhere, knowing she was listening.

"After you left slave, they told me in my dreams to take them with me while I searched for you, orders from my brother DarkEyes. It seems that they aren't happy with your disappearance, even though you wished them dead."

Loreena was shocked as she listened to his words, he was lying! She had loved her family and never wanted them dead, but she just crept closer until she was outside in the pouring evening rain.

While she heard his laughter and words of revenge and killing, she jumped into the trees and looked for the soldiers that looked around for her.

It took her a few minutes before she found the large group of the thickly armored soldiers surrounding the area where Jacknife stood. But she smirked as she made her energy pulse invisible and got to work.

She extended her claws till as far as they could go and grabbed the standing soldier under the tree she was in, and sank her claws into the soldier's throat, only the faint sound of squirting blood could be heard in the roaring thunderstorm.

So she used her assassin skills she had learned from secretly watching the four master's train during the day while her race were sleeping in agony. She watched them train and learned the moves they made from when she first arrived at the fortress shortly after she had turned fifty.

(Remember…that's like four years old in this story!)

She slit their throats and ripped their armor to pieces with catlike grace and the silence of a highly skilled assassin until nothing stood in her way of getting revenge on one of the hellish masters of the Black Cross Fortress.

But Jacknife was quicker as he threw a small dagger in her direction; barely missing her right eye, then she jumped out from the trees and ran towards Jacknife, who had dropped the heads of her family.

While she and the demon master fought, Jin and the others had surrounded the area and watched in shock of how she had perfected and blocked every move that the ice youkai had put on her, even Jacknife was shocked himself.

'How could she know all the moves that my brothers and I have perfected? The forest was fully surrounded and secure!' he thought but his mind froze with the realization of what she had used to get close to them while they trained.

'No…she couldn't have…its impossible…'

He was caught off guard as Loreena lunged at him with her claws and slashed his left eye, causing him to scream in pain as he covered his now leaking eye.

Jin and everyone else could only watch in shock of what happened next…

Loreena's body had become embraced by the dark power of the ultimate attack she had used against Ryshio and everything went pitch black.

Jacknife slowly looked up to see everything pitch black, and a cold shiver sliced through his body as he felt a dark energy more intense then he ever felt before.

But he smirked as he realized what she was doing and simply waved his hand in front of Loreena's floating figure and everything around them was visible again.

"I should've known you would use that attack, but how stupid of you," he whispered with a cold laugh as he stood up and walked towards her, not caring anymore about his bleeding eye. "We knew about that power ever since you unleashed it when you were younger, and we can control it now matter how strong you are."

Loreena snarled silently and charged at him again with abnormal demon speed and slashed her claws across his abdomen, causing his ice colored blood to spill all over her black kimono.

"Very impressive slave…but let me show you what I can do," Jacknife whispered as he removed his ninja mask and opened the eye that the dagger had destroyed earlier to reveal a sick looking destroyed blue eye.

(REMEMBER IN THE BEGINNING WHEN LOREENA THREW A DAGGER AT RATHAN AND JACKNIFE BEFORE SHE FELL DOWN THE CLIFF? YEP, IT HIT JACKNIFE IN HIS LEFT EYE.)

His damaged eye started to glow and his energy started pulsing around everyone so hard no could hardly breathe since Jacknife's energy was poisonous to most demons.

"Blizzard of Purgatory," he whispered and everything went dark while the temperature severely dropped to below zero, then without warning, a huge blizzard of ice spikes sharpened to perfection flew straight for the defenseless Loreena.

"LOREENA!" Yusuke yelled over the storm.

"GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Kurama shouted at the frozen Night Maiden.

But it was too late, the fury of spikes was already within range where escape was no longer an option, Loreena just stood there in frozen terror as the spikes hurled at her…then plunged into her entire body in less than three seconds.

TO BE CONTINUED…


	8. Determination

Chapter 8

Determination

Time seemed to stop and everything suddenly went quiet as the Night Maiden fell before Jacknife, her innocent blood spilled for the second time, no one could believe what had just happened.

Jacknife smirked and began to feel his eye heal back to normal, whenever a Night Maiden attacked someone and left a life changing mark, then that wouldn't heal unless the Night Maiden is killed or in critical condition, but Jin and the others couldn't tell if Loreena was alive or not.

"MOVE OUT MEN, WE'VE DONE WHAT NEEDED TO BE DONE!"

What was left of Jacknife's group left with him in the shadows, and Jin and the others were left alone with a dying companion…

But giving the others no time to say anything, Loreena slowly stood up from the ground and weakly started pulling the ice spikes out of her body, but everyone ran towards her to help her up.

"She needs to see someone quick!" Kuwabara informed everyone.

"But what about the tournament?" Yusuke asked.

"That might have to wait Yusuke!" Touya shouted at him.

"Let's jus' get her t' someone quick!" Jin yelled at them.

But they were interrupted as Loreena pushed away from them and sat down by a tree, glaring at them, her eyes telling them to stop fighting.

Jin, with a confused face, walked over to Loreena, sat in front of her and looked at her angered eyes.

"Wha' do yu wan' us t' do Loreena?" he asked quietly, and she pointed to the camp that could barely be seen through the rough curtain of trees.

"Yu wan' t' go on?"

She nodded and tried to stand up, but Jin just caught her and picked her up bridal style and carried her back to Yusuke and the others, who were waiting patiently.

"What happened Jin?" Touya calmly.

"She wants t' go on," Jin whispered.

Everyone just stared at Jin for what he had just said, surprised at Loreena's efforts to keep going despite the pain and wounds she was enduring with her last bits of strength.

"But where will we get help?" Yusuke asked everyone, and they all realized that Yusuke was right.

Since the demon camp came to Spirit World, King Enma and the other rebel spirits were in hiding, so almost no one would still be living in the other areas anymore.

"Let's go find Koenma and see if he can help us," Touya suggested out of the blue, and they all agreed, but the downside was that none of them knew where Koenma's whereabouts were.

But speak of the devil, Botan suddenly flew down from the dark clouds and beside them, having her usual smile on as always.

"Hello everyone, sorry for the delay, I'm here to take you guys to Koenma!" she said happily, but everyone was just staring at her.

"How did you know where we were?" Yusuke asked suspiciously.

"I…ummm…I can't explain it now, but Koenma made me come get you guys, but who's this?" she asked, pointing to Loreena.

"She's a new companion, we were going to enter the new tournament before it was too late," Kurama explained simply, not wanting to be in the forest any longer.

Botan looked a little unsure as she studied Loreena, but she just nodded and helped Jin with getting Loreena on Botan's oar, but the grim reaper had to make a second trip anyway.

"Jus' hold on a wee bit longer Loreena…yu weel be alroight," Jin told Loreena in a worried voice, but he put on a brave face for his friend as he and Botan flew through the now clear night to Koenma's hideout.

-Unknown Hideout/Underground Building-

"Botan, it's about time…." Koenma paused in mid-sentence when Jin, Yusuke and the others entered his now office with Loreena in Jin's arms. "WHAT IS A NIGHT MAIDEN DOING HERE?"

"Geez pacifier breath, what crawled up your butt and died?" Kuwabara asked.

"Don't go there Kuwabara, now isn't the time for humor," Kurama scolded.

"Oh fine, but we need help healing her, we were attacked by one of those weird demons from the Black Cross Fortress," Kuwabara said again, pointing to the wounded Night Maiden, who glared back at him.

"Does anyone know you're here?" Koenma wondered.

"No, we escaped just in time," Hiei explained, and the baby ruler nodded.

"Botan, you take the Night Maiden and take her to the Healing Wing and get her cleaned up, I don't want any blood on my new floors!" Koenma commanded, and the grim reaper took Loreena and was gone in a flash.

"Have you heard of the new tournament being held?" Touya asked quietly, standing out of the crowd to be heard.

Koenma nodded in a fearful gesture, he had known for a long time from his spies that had searched the land for clues of the new fortress.

"But how did Yusuke and the others get here?"

"Well, it's uh…kind of a strange story…" Kuwabara said nervously.

So Kurama and Yusuke told Koenma of how they were summoned by Jin and Touya, and the information they learned of the mysterious Night Maiden.

A few hours lazily passed by, and another rainy night washed upon the sorrowful land of Spirit World when Touya stepped into the room Botan had made for Loreena.

The Night Maiden was sitting by the window, her left arm put into a cast dangling from a thick white cloth. Her black kimono was replaced a new silk one with gold dragons softly glowing in the candlelight by her side.

Her fine auburn hair was brushed and hanging loosely about her shoulders, but she didn't really seem to notice the Ice Shinobi's presence.

"You seem calmer now," he said in a low voice.

She turned and nodded in response, then turned to look out to the rainy night, the wet drops gently pattering against the glass window.

"Are you still sure you want to participate in the tournament?"

She obviously nodded, knowing for a while that the subject would come up eventually. She didn't seem to notice either when Touya sat by her, his bright blue pupils staring at her.

She felt her necklace under the silk kimono glow, and her voice temporarily returned once again, but the voice still didn't belong to her.

"Do you have the will to fight in the tournament as well?"

"Yes, but I don't have much determination as you do."

"And who doesn't, I seem to be the most persistent one that wishes to kill those monsters!" she hissed, ignoring his face.

"We all do Loreena, but since we don't know what exactly takes place in that prison, we just don't understand as clearly as you do…please forgive my intrusion."

The two went silent for a while, silently enjoying the rain's soft melody as it continued to swiftly patter against the glass window, the moon nowhere in sight anymore.

"No Touya, I should be the one to apologize…it's just that I can't be relieved of the grudge I have against them. So much has been taken from me since the day I stepped one innocent foot into that place," she apologized in a low, stubborn tone, not wanting to let her guard down.

"I'm sorry for your losses in the past, I wanted to say so sooner."

"I never thought one as cold as you would feel sympathy for one such person as me," she said back with an amused smile.

He laughed then; amused by her dark remarks towards him, he smiled and patted her injured arm.

"What makes you think I'm a cold demon?" he asked slyly, enjoying their witty game.

"The way you act towards the rest of the group, the way your voice never softens and warms up to others, that's what I mean."

His smile didn't fade as she now stared at him, her lit up cerulean blue eyes glinting with confusion.

"What do you mean by that?" he asked like he was offended.

"Now that you must discover for yourself," she commented and fell silent.

He leapt down from the large windowsill she sat on, whispered "good night" to her then softly closed the door to leave her in privacy.

"So that's the case…" Koenma said to himself after Yusuke finished the story of how they met Loreena and what they learned about the Black Cross Fortress. "It must be a trap of some kind to lure her back."

"Maybe so, but what kind of choice do we have?" Hiei said sarcastically, amazed that even a ruler of Spirit World didn't know the solution to the problem before them.

"We should jus' go t' th' tournament! We don' have much o' a choice anyway," Jin interrupted, the large gold doors closing loudly as he entered the room.

"Jin is correct Koenma, either is a lethal trap or not, we must enter that tournament to defeat those four demons," Kurama added, but Koenma still seemed confused and deep in thought.

"Let think this overnight, we'll continue this in the morning," Koenma said wearily, massaging his temples as the crew left the room for their own.

Jin almost opened his door when he thought of something, and started walking down the hall to another room.

"Can I come in?" he asked, and the door instantly opened.

He walked in to see Loreena still staring out at the wondrous raining scene outside, and she smiled as he entered the room and walked over to her side.

"Yu feelin' better Loreena?"

She nodded and stretched her good arm a couple times, that telling Jin that she was tired from the journey here and the previous fight against Jacknife in the forest.

He helped her down from the windowsill and to the welcoming futon, stacked with thick quilts and feather pillows, the candle light by the window slowly dying away.

"Will yu feel better tomorru fer th' tournament?"

She nodded, but looked up at him with the confusion her eyes showed Touya when he was here a few hours before.

"Wha's wrong Loreena?"

She lightly touched her pendant again, feeling its warm beating and felt her unknown voice return to her silent mouth.

"Touya was here and told me he wasn't a cold hearted person like I had told him earlier, I didn't Shinobi's of his kind would feel any ounce of sympathy for our kind at all," she explained, and he just gave her a goofy grin in response.

"Weel, Touya's jus' means tha' one person's looks doesn' determine a person's 'eart," Jin explained, wondering why the Night Maiden didn't understand the meaning of prejudice or personality.

At first, she still seemed confused, but after a few more minutes of utter silence, she nodded in understanding and he smiled again.

"I guess I'll leave yu now…sleep weel Loreena," he whispered, gently squeezing her hand before tucking her in the warm futon, said "good night" once more, then left the room for his own.

(The Next Day)

An inky, bright morning peeked through Loreena's window as she gradually opened her eyes to welcome another day of her life.

Botan and a few nurses entered her room a few minutes later, did last minute adjustments on her arm, removed the splint, and then assisted her into her uniform she would wear when her journey would continue.

Meanwhile, Yusuke and the other guys were crowded into King Enma's chamber, the large king towering over them.

"Koenma and I have made our decision," King Enma bellowed, his deep voice almost causing everyone to fall to the floor.

"Yes your majesty?" Touya asked patiently, leaning one knee now.

"You all may take your journey to this tournament held at the Black Cross Fortress, but take extreme caution on your way there…stay away from them at all times, and always keep your senses aware. Is that understood now?" King Enma asked.

Kurama and Jin took one courageous step forward, then got on one knee and bowed respectfully.

"We respect your decision, Lord Enma," Kurama said calmly.

"We will come back s'ccessfully," Jin added, wondering what the king would say next.

But King Enma just nodded in approval and sent them from his chambers, Koenma following behind after closing the large doors.

When they returned to Koenma's office, Botan and Loreena were stranding by the doors on the other side.

Loreena was no longer in her black short kimono, but in a long black cape covering long white baggy hakamas that went past her ankles, black leather boots, and a long sleeved black haori shirt with a gold dragon serving a clasp securing the shirt in place.

"SHE'S…HOT!" Kuwabara said in a hyper voice, running to her but she once again flipped him over and smacked his face into the concrete wall.

The orange haired idiot winced and tried to get out of the concrete wall, but he heard everyone else laughing at his effort, then he was pulled out and fell on his butt.

"Why is it that hot chicks like her always hate me?" he asked sadly.

Yusuke snickered and punched Kuwabara playfully in the arm and helped him up, and held his sides as he cracked up a storm of laughter again.

"She…doesn't hate you…Kuwabara, she's just…not used to having… a big lug…run at her to…do something perverted!" Yusuke answered his friend, now on the floor laughing for a while longer until Touya kicked him in the side.

"You've had your humor escapade long enough, we must get going!" Touya told the cracked up Spirit Detective, and Yusuke got himself together.

"Botan, is the Night Maiden ready now?" Koenma asked sternly.

"Yes Koenma sir, I'll bring her before you," Botan answered.

Botan guided Loreena to Koenma's desk, where the kid ruler examined Loreena's collar, then took his pacifier out of his mouth.

He chanted a spell while closing his eyes, and the now glowing pacifier slowly floated to the collar, and then the power of the collar and the pacifier clashed as soon as they touched.

Black and green rays blasted across the room for a long time, but then everything fell silent after Koenma finished the chant and the collar around Loreena's neck fell to the ground in ashes.

No one spoke for a long time as well, their shocked faces preventing them from saying a word. The silence was laid heavily upon them until Loreena suddenly coughed numerous times.

After the Night Maiden stopped coughing, she turned to face her still shocked companions, who stared at her in wonder.

"It…It…it's…gone…" she whispered, her clear and real voice echoed like a harp across the room, her true voice was now free.

But everyone noticed they were staring and kept their cool, then talked with Koenma for a while longer before they made their way back to the surface of their troubled world.

-Entrance to Black Cross Fortress Port-

As they wrote down their names on the participation list, they boarded the ship on the side for the unknown island where the tournament would take place.

"This is dejavu all over again," Kuwabara said wearily as he leaned against the dock fence.

"I agree, but I wonder if we'll fight any old opponents," Yusuke added.

"Who knows, this still seems pretty suspicious to me," Hiei finally said after his remark back at Koenma's hideout.

"You're right Hiei, but we'll just have to see the truth when we arrive there," Touya said simply, turning to Loreena, who was staring out at the sea. "You ok Loreena?"

She broke her chain of thinking to look at the others, who were wondering what she was thinking about.

She looked back towards the sapphire ocean, her eyes filled with mystery and wonder as she gazed at the water for the first time.

"I'm not sure myself Touya, but I can sense those monster's presences on this ship, their evil souls reeking of sinister intentions. But I hope we all can work as one and give those bastards what they've always deserved," she told them, her voice showing as much determination that her eyes revealed.

Jin nodded by her side, his hand secretly taking hers for support, unknown to the others and she held his in response to accept his act.

Soon enough, the captain announced their departure and the rules, then they large ship was off into the still blue ocean to the island where Jin and his companions would try to attempt their objective: To bring the Era of Prosperity back to their land.

TO BE CONTINUED…


	9. Arrival Pyroblood vs Kurama

A/N: Welcome back everyone to the newest installment! Sorry for the long update, I was on vacation but I did manage to think up something after all. I went through the previous chapters and have EDITED them of all swear words, too dark paragraphs and most of Jin's dialogue so it's easier to understand. After seeing the episodes in the Raizen saga, I decided to have Jin speak more clearly like in the DVD's…just as an update notice. But anyway, just ignore me, enjoy this great new chapter and don't forget to REVIEW!

Chapter 9

Arrival/ Pyroblood vs. Kurama

-Midnight, Arriving Ship-

"Is that him again?" Touya asked groggily, the coughing and sound of disturbed water continuing outside the cabin door.

"He's been out there all night," Yusuke commented, rolling to the other side.

"I'll go take care of him," Hiei remarked impatiently, shutting the door behind him.

Kuwabara pulled back his flat, frizzy orange hair and took in another deep breath. Barfing over the ship's edge for more than four hours wasn't his idea to begin another adventure.

"Hey baka, we're trying to sleep! Keep it down," Hiei hissed, his hand clutching the sword in case of no cooperation from the sick idiot.

"Well, ex-cu-se me but maybe you should try puking for the next four hours and see how you-," he was cut off when Hiei took action with his sword.

"Taken care of," Hiei said quietly after he shut the cabin door.

"What did you do this time, Hiei?" Touya asked.

"Temporary silence," Hiei stated.

The Ice Shinobi got the idea of Hiei's action and turned back to the wall. Every competing demon in the tournament had to share a small room for the night. Snoring and deep breathing disturbed the atmosphere and the sea continued to rock the boat every few hours.

Around three hours later, a certain person became aroused from sleep by one of their companions walk out the door. Closing the door silently, the demon looked around for its companion. Turning the corner to see an unconscious Kuwabara, the demon looked upon the Night Maiden whispering to the sleeping Kuwabara.

"Must I have an escort when I leave a room?" Loreena asked irritably, setting Kuwabara by the door.

Giving no attention to her sudden visitor, she perched her tired arms onto the boat railing and let her eyes take in the sea's beautiful portrait. She could hear the soft footsteps approach behind her, but her plan of revenge, growing anger and past memories kept her well occupied.

'I know you all responsible for my broken pride and crushed heart! You feel a fiery pleasure in nothing more than seeing Death do your bloody masterpieces. But once fate gives me the chance, Death will take you instead,' Loreena promised herself proudly, feeling confident that this tournament was the key to unleash her anger and let her secret longing be known.

"Do you regret leaving your family behind?" her visitor asked.

"They died once they stepped into that deathtrap, but yes I do if that's what you want to hear," she snapped.

"Do you regret what's become of you since they took control?" he asked again.

"In a way yes, but their curse might help me get my own, shattered life back together. Eight hundred years of slavery and bloodshed has been enough for me," she explained, the crashing waves against the boat calming the snarling monster within her broken soul.

Once more the footsteps beckoned her to turn around, but Loreena still resisted gazing at her visitor's face.

"Why did you wish to accompany me this life changing night?" she asked suspiciously, desperately to decipher his unseen objective.

"Because I'm like you Night Maiden, I have lost someone close to me and I have as much fiery anger at those demon as-," he was cut off when she lashed around and backhanded his hidden face.

"YOU WILL NEVER SHARE MY ETERNAL ANGER FOR THEM! MY ANGER IS SO FLAMING AND TOXIC THAT ANYONE WHO LOVED ME WOULD DIE BY MY OWN HANDS!" she screamed, but she stopped and stared at her visitor.

His looked misty from a dreamful sleep, but he considered himself lucky not to have her know of his existence. He had watched her and her team since they stepped onto the ship and he knew that salvation to the Makai world was slowly approaching.

"I understand now what you intend to do Night Maiden and I will not stop you, though you must care for yourself if you wish to survive this trap," he warned her firmly, stepping further into the night's dark shield.

"Why an anonymous fighter suddenly care for my fate?" she questioned.

"Sometimes your advisers shouldn't be revealed to you," he shot back.

She squinted her eyes, just enough to see he had short, black spiky hair like her clothes but his face was still hiding from her pressing gaze. She turned back from him in defeat and sighed with relief at the ocean's calming colors.

"Fine, you win sir but don't think I might face you in the-," she was cut off when she heard him run off into the darkness, but she didn't even bother to stare after him when Kuwabara grunted and walked towards her.

"Uh…did I…fall asleep or something?" he asked groggily.

"In a way yes, but it doesn't matter Kuwabara. Do you feel better now after getting that stuff out of your system?" she asked calmly, still not bothering to look back at him.

"Who was that guy you were talkin' to?" he asked again.

"Like I said Kuwabara, don't worry about it. Just get some sleep before we arrive, you don't want to be slacking in that place," she warned and walked back into the cabin without another word.

-Next Day, Black Cross Fortress entrance-

"Man, this is place is huge!" Yusuke exclaimed as he examined the outside of the black marble castle.

"WELCOME ALL COMPETITORS!" a voice boomed from the balcony above the gates. Everyone looked up to see the leader, DarkEyes the ruthless vampire. "WE HAVE THE TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE RIGHT INSIDE THE COURTYARD AND YOU ARE WELCOME TO GOT TO YOUR ROOMS TO REST. BUT AT DARK TONIGHT, THERE WILL BE A TOUR OF THE CASTLE, DON'T BE LATE! MEET IN THE COURTYARD FOR JACKKNIFE TO GIVE THE ORIENTATION. ONCE AGAIN, WELCOME TO BLACK CROSS FORTRESS AND ENJOY YOUR SHORT STAY," DarkEyes announced and most demons cheered for the vampire's short, simple speech.

The front gates opened with a lazy groaning noise, as if they were awoken from a peaceful sleep by their master's loud voice. All the demons ran to the schedule posted in the middle of the deserted courtyard, pinned securely to a tall wooden stake.

Yusuke and the others waited for Kurama to come back with information about their fights, but they all seemed uneasy about the feel of the castle's atmosphere.

"This place is really dark looking, I hope we don't run into anything," Botan said in a low, scared tone. She held onto her oar for comfort and Loreena couldn't help but roll her eyes through her hood at the easily terrified grim reaper.

"What did you expect you coward, you try living here for eight hundred years and see what you think," Loreena said slyly but in a rude voice, her annoyance from Botan increasing each time she spoke.

"My my, what's your problem?" Botan shot back.

"Just making a point is all…or did I hurt your perky feelings?" Loreena mocked the grim reaper, looking straight ahead to avoid the stares from everyone else.

Botan whispered to herself and folded her arms crossly, cursing herself for ever getting into this situation. But the stares were now turned to Kurama when he returned with the schedule information.

"None of us have the chance to fight until the day after tomorrow, so I guess that makes us lucky," he told them and they all sighed with relief of no sudden practices.

"Well that settles it, let's go find some empty rooms," Yusuke said flatly, following the already leaving Loreena.

No one was short of fascinated once they walked into the mouth of the black marble tower. The West and East Wings, both close to the lake held thousands of clean rooms for the competition. Swarms of tall, short, ugly or attractive demons traveled the long decorated halls to vacant rooms. Riots broke out for the most appealing spaces, but none of the four leaders paid any attention to the selfish fighters.

Kurama glanced at the mighty paintings that hung safely against the sleek marble, paintings of the past inheritors of the castle, most shared the same traits as the current ones only they didn't seem too inhuman in the eyes. He heard Kuwabara whisper to Yusuke about his scared comments on the place and for one strange reason; Yusuke agreed that the place seemed too large and dark for only four demons to live in.

"No one really knows of these rooms anymore, but they offer a rare view of the lake and the back courtyard of the castle," Loreena told as if she lived here as they all walked into the roomy and rich colored room. "My family and I shared two of these rooms the first several years we lived here, and for some reason I felt welcome within these walls."

Soon enough, they all began to understand Loreena's description of feelings. The room had two large bedrooms with two large beds, enough for two people to have their fair share of space. Crisp white sheets welcomed the weary visitors and the fluffed pillows gazed at their tired eyes with a hidden smile. The room between the bedrooms had a roomy crimson couch that matched the red tapestries substituting as shades from the beating sun.

Gold rimmed paintings of far away lands and spacious families of different races lit up the plain, wore out black stone with a strange comfort to them. A fairly large windowsill sat quietly behind the couch, two storage doors lying underneath a comforting gold carpet.

"Awesome job Loreena, I think I can sleep easier without all those stuck up demons causing a racket," Yusuke commented, jumping on the bed farthest to the window. Soon enough the detective and his sidekick argued over which one would have the window view at night.

"How did you come across such a room Loreena?" Botan asked curiously, her grudge against the Night Maiden somehow disappearing.

"I hardly remember, but I do know that free time can lead you anywhere in this mysterious castle Botan," Loreena answered, distracted from the next part of her speech when a familiar feeling hit her.

Faint colored images of a small family looking around with big smiles on their faces coursed through her mind as she no longer became a part of the reality that despised her so easily.

She could feel her fighting companions touch her and pull her away from where her mind was showing her that no one else was incapable of seeing with her. She didn't understand what she said to them as they called to her but as the images led her to one of the bedrooms, she didn't dare resisted what the answer might give her.

"What's wrong with her, she's not herself at all," Touya asked nervously.

"Is she being hypnotized?" Kuwabara asked dumbfounded.

"I think she's remembering something," Botan commented.

Everyone fell silent when they heard a bed being lifted and smashed into the opposite wall in the room to their right. They ran in just in time to see the entranced Night Maiden opening the floor from where the bed sat comfortably. They ran to the other bed for cover as a several variety of weapons shot out from her hands as if they flew for joy of being released from the cold, lifeless floor they had lived in.

"LOREENA, SNAP OUT OF IT! YOU MIGHT KILL SOMEONE!" Hiei shouted angrily, jumping out of the way of a big double sided axe found its way to the wall above his pinnacle of hair.

Moments of silence passed after the weapons had filed out of the floor when Loreena came back up from the secret place under the floor, holding a big book with an unknown language labeling it.

"I…found it…at last," she whispered, holding the book with shock.

Everyone but Hiei, who was unafraid of any kind of weapon, took a deep sigh of relief and joined her by the secret place only she knew of. The book had neatly written words on their large, story like pages, but the language was still unknown to their brains.

"What did you find exactly?" Yusuke asked with irritation in his voice.

"I found the journal I kept when I was a child, memories of my past and family. I had stashed this and our belongings in this floor when we were taken to the huts in the courtyard, hoping someday I would return to tell new things to this friend of mine," Loreena explained, still feeling entranced by the joy of her founding.

"But why were you acting all funny just a minute ago?" Kuwabara asked again, this time scratching his disaster of hair. "You really scared me for a minute."

Loreena helped herself out of the deep hole and looked around at everyone, the harsh reality suddenly returning to her still drugged mind. The old memories suddenly disappeared into the corners of her lost mind and she returned to her old self.

"How should I know, it's never happened from what I remember," she answered quickly, setting the journal on the other large windowsill then turned to put the thrown bed back into its original place.

The confused ice youkai helped Loreena place the disturbed resting place return to its spot and they walked out of the room to discuss the upcoming fights they were assigned.

"This tournament surely is different from the last one, what's a frickin' "Revenge Round"?" Yusuke asked in frustration as he took the empty spot on the couch next to Kurama.

"Must be when you fight one of those four leaders," Kurama concluded.

"Aye lad, but those demons look loik cheaters to me eyes," Jin spoke up, not moving from his floating spot. "But wha's at stake 'ere?"

"It's simple Jin, they want Loreena back for some kind of plan they've developed for hundreds of years," Hiei simply stated, the breeze from the opened window calming his "irritable senses."

"I kno' tha' Hiei, but why now to start a tournamen'?" Jin asked again.

"Once again it's simple, they enjoy nothing but seeing other demons be corrupted by violence. They need more slaves and alliances to put their plan into action," Botan said, but she was simply ignored when Loreena stood up and leaned against the wall.

"Cut the comments and listen with your ears," she snapped.

Everyone turned to the annoyed Night Maiden quickly, surprised by her random reaction to their obvious questions and more simple answers.

"I know them better than anyone on this island, but they aren't that stupid to plan a tournament just to get me back," she began, seeing they were interesting, but offended by her comment as she continued in a more calm voice. "They do have an objective yes, but I don't think we should discuss this matter just yet…for they have a way of knowing what we tell one another."

They all looked around in confusion and she was surprised even Kurama and Botan didn't sense the tight aura from inside the walls. She sighed and touched the walls with a normal index finger and sure to her surprise, a large black eye popped out from the wall.

"They have guards surrounding this entire castle," she stated.

Kurama took a quick examination of the walls and sure enough after a few seconds of viewing a simple room, he could see with his demon eyes that thousands of black eyes swarmed around the walls.

"She's right; they can see and expect every move we make. They did lure us here for one reason enough besides death," the red head explained.

"Con' we jus' kill 'em all?" Jin asked Loreena simply.

"More would take their place Jin," she admitted as if she admitted defeat.

"Can we leave to talk of our-," Kuwabara was interrupted by the door.

Touya got up from the worn crimson carpet and revealed another one of the leaders, Rathan behind their door. The moon apparition smiled at most of the surprised faces, but he simply introduced himself.

"Will you join us in the tour of our castle?" Rathan almost pleaded, using his left arm as a gesture to lead them out the door.

The fighters looked at each other, their looks exchanging a common feeling of distrust and suspicion, but they just shrugged and played along. Rathan left after Botan walked out the door and led them down the staircase to let them follow the large group of tourists in the courtyard.

"Ah welcome Spirit Detective and friends, you're just in time to follow me into the mouth of our sanctuary," Jacknife said calmly as Yusuke and the group stood in the back of the big group of fighters. "Now that we have everyone here, let's begin the orientation."

The ninja turned from the chattering fighters as they automatically followed him into the forest just a few feet from the castle walls. Most whisperings that could be heard were of actual excitement of exploring the most talked out place since the four leaders arrived 1,500 years before.

"This our well guarded forest to keep anyone from escaping the island, though we haven't found the proper name for it just yet," Jacknife began loudly so everyone could hear his booming voice.

All around them, the trees glared down at the fighters with a fiery passion as they walked by. Winding staircases of barbs curled around the trees and dead bushes, the sounds of growls fading into the distance. Thick leaves fought against the army of sun rays, leaving the demons to use their sharp senses to inform them on their whereabouts.

"This is where the Merciless Wolves live, deep in this forest," Loreena whispered while in the front of everyone else. "They are Jacknife's loyal pets and if you even come within 300 feet of even a baby, you might as well know how to fly or write your will on a tree."

Kuwabara looked around the forest, sensing they were being stalked and gave small whimpers, wishing he was back in the room with all the watching black eyes.

"Just how strong are these wolves, Night Maiden?" Hiei asked quietly.

"I don't dare speak of their power Hiei and neither should anyone, they have far more advanced hearing than even an S class demon," Loreena warned once more, feeling her own fear of the menacing pack creep around her words.

"Believe me lads, I 'ave seen these monsters jus' loik Loreena. No be messin' wid 'em ye should," Jin commented, shivers racing along his spine at the memory of their hungry eyes. "Notin' more dangerous than a lot o' 'em fer sure."

From that hour on until sunset came around, the tour progressed and everything wasn't so easy for Yusuke and his friends to see as they just walked by the certain places. The Wall of Afterlife caused Kuwabara to almost piss his pants and everyone else to look away as a fresh corpse was being taken away by a dozen small slaves.

"I can't believe how horrible this place is just by feeling the atmosphere, I guess most rumors don't lie," Botan whispered to herself as they walked back into the castle through a hidden path overrun with briar thorns.

"Here you'll find the entrance to the most secluded place in the castle, the Den of Night," Jacknife expressed as he let his left arm show a deep hole in the wall leading somewhere no one wanted to know. "No one is allowed to witness any event within this place except myself and my associates and selected slaves, so if you're caught wandering here, you might as well become best friends with this place quickly."

His warning just made Loreena let out a small hiss of anger, her own vague memory of the Den of Night creeping back to her. Everyone noticed her odd behavior since they walked out of the forest, but no one dared question her unpredictable mouth.

Once more, Jacknife led the unsuspecting demons up the staircase from the Den of Night and back up to the main entrance of the castle. He thanked everyone for enjoying the tour and advised training for everyone until the peak of the first fight tomorrow at the break of dawn, but Yusuke and his group just walked off at Jacknife's information about the first fights and explanation of the Revenge Rounds.

Before retreating for the night, they all stopped in the hall before the door of their room and decided to let their comments finally be expressed to one another.

"I want to go home now!" Botan whined.

"I never guessed they could be so barbaric," Kurama stated.

"Man this place pisses me off even more," was Yusuke's expected comment.

"Hopefully the area around the lake isn't infested with something," Touya hoped, desiring the scenery of the lake for sparring practice.

"I bet th' wind 'ere is thick wid blood doncha think?" Jin asked everyone, but they all just nodded heads instead of wasting words on the now watching eyes.

"At least we don't have to concern ourselves with those fools until the day after tomorrow," Hiei hissed, claiming the windowsill as his own spot.

"Let's just get some sleep and practice tomorrow," Loreena said and walked to the bedroom on the right of the window, while Touya, Jin and Kurama followed the distressed Night Maiden.

After claiming beds, change of clothes and last words to each other, everyone claimed their beds: Jin w/ Touya, Kurama on the bed next to the blank wall and Loreena just perched on the windowsill, deep in her written memories.

-Day of Tournament, Round 2-

Watching from a high box above the stadium and watching the big screen, Yusuke and the others just sat back and watch the obvious battles. Koto's annoying voice informed the viewers as a dark samurai lost to a female shadow dancer.

The next four battles were intense and suspenseful and only one demon had its life taken from its opponent and taken away by another dozen pair of slaves. The fifth and last battle was the leader Pyroblood versus Kurama, which the crowd cheered like there was no tomorrow.

"Kurama, I need to speak with you before you step down there," Loreena spoke up; her long died black hair softly swaying to her rising body.

"What's on your mind Loreena?" Kurama asked calmly after shutting the door.

"Just a word of advice for your fight: don't hold anything back, Kurama. These guys are ruthless and won't give you any time to prepare a plan, you have appear on the ring prepared for anything. But…just…be careful out there ok?" she asked, feeling a surge of worry carry out of her along with her voice.

Kurama just smiled and put a comforting hand on her shoulder, but he knew mentally that her warning was correct as his intentions. Youko might be the only way to living another day, so he just looked at her with a look of thankfulness.

"I know what you mean Loreena, my intentions are your exact words but thank you for informing me. I do hope I can live to see these tyrants brought to Justice at last," Kurama told her, then with a turn of his red mane he walked down into the stadium to begin.

"THE LAST BATTLE OF ROUND TWO IS UNDERWAY WITH THE LEADER PYROBLOOD VERSUS KURAMA!" Koto shouted to the ground, but she still shook when she glanced at the blind fire demon.

'Gwa hahaha, this pretty boy will be easy to add to my collection of heads! But then again he is the famous Youko Kurama but this still might be interestin',' Pyroblood told himself, tossing a stray lock of fiery orange hair from his open but blind eye.

Taking his axe out from underneath his flowing black and red robes, he gave a snarling smile of pointed yellow teeth and waited anxiously to get his hands dirty. Kurama pulled out his signature rose and also waited for Koto to start the fight, but his mental thoughts still told him he doubted a chance to survive with one of the four most ruthless demons known to time.

"BEGIN!" Koto yelled and the gong boomed into the distance.

"Does he have a chance of living through this fight Loreena?" Yusuke asked her curiously, since the two fighters were running around and talking to each other about something.

Loreena looked at him in front of her from the big screen and didn't answer immediately. She looked around to see everyone else was interested in what critical comment she might say, so she just gave up and expressed her most important opinion.

"Personally Yusuke, I can't say on his behalf but I do know that Pyroblood may be blind but he sure knows how detect someone planning an attack. I've never seen him fight anyone myself since I was too little to watch the fights, but I have a stabbing feeling in my gut that this battle isn't going to be anything short of violent," Loreena said grimly, looking back to the big screen ignoring Yusuke's still piercing look.

"But I do have faith that Kurama's intentions won't fail him," she concluded firmly and let her eyes just relax and watch the fight quickly progress.

"ROSE WHIP LASH!" Kurama commanded once more.

Pyroblood just grinned and swung his axe towards the whip, but strangely enough, the whip recoiled and wrapped around his axe with a stone like grip. But it was only a few moments when the axe's secret ability came into appearance as it burst into the flames and Kurama's whip and plan was turned to ashes.

"Come on lad; show me what you really got!" Pyroblood challenged, picking his axe back up and giving a fake yawn of disappointment. "I expected better from a heartless demon that never held back."

Kurama hissed in a low tone at the intimidating fire leader, but soon enough he felt his gut take the axe's swinging blade. The impact knocked his conscious away for a few moments and his body was thrown into the stone wall behind him. Blood colored the sharp, thorn like grass and Kurama suddenly realized now was his time to take the action that Pyroblood desires.

"FIRE SHIELD!" Pyroblood's booming voice commanded and a blazing ring of fire surrounded the ring, leaving Kurama out of harm's way but his plants would have to sit out on this fight.

Without another word being said, Kurama's unstable energy suddenly exploded from his body, causing a thick fog around the entire stadium, only leaving the audience cheering for the approaching fox.

"So you're finally showing your true self lad, I see your death won't be in vain after all, Gwa ha ha ha ha ha!" Pyroblood exploded, his axe resting against his shoulder as he awaited his more powerful opponent.

"WELL FOLKS, IT APPEARS KURAMA IS TAKING HIS TIME TRANSFORMING INTO YOUKO KURAMA. BUT WELL AT LEAST WE GOT OURSELVES A REAL FIGHT IN NO TIME AT ALL!" Koto shouted into the microphone, her insides just jumping for joy as the mist of spirit energy faded to reveal a smiling Youko Kurama.

"So I finally get to fight the legendary thief in the flesh, this is goin' to be quite bloody fun! Welcome Youko Kurama, to my ring of fiery hell!" Pyroblood shouted over the crackling flames as Youko appeared into the ring just as quickly as the leader had expected.

"Same to you Pyroblood, this will be fun after all," Youko agreed, than vanished without giving second thoughts of a plan.

The leader grunted and tried to focus on the fox's movements over the crackling flames, but his ears picked up his energy too soon. Youko grabbed and slammed the edge of the blade into the leader's head, causing the short demon to yelp in pain, but the fox wasn't done yet.

Punches, slashing claws and kicks came like the speed of light for the surprised leader as he swung his axe as a substitute shield. But as young as the fox was, he knocked Pyroblood's axe out of the ring into the fire's ring and slashed at his face.

"Looks like he's winning after all! GO KURAMA!" cheered Botan.

The screen displayed Youko laughing insanely while Pyroblood searched desperately for his axe, one hand protecting his bloody face from the dancing flames.

"Uh…is he tryin' to kill himself?" Kuwabara asked randomly.

'Don't play with him Kurama, he's not as stupid as you think he is!' Loreena told herself, watching as the fox dragged the demon from his precious flames and began a death escapade.

"I guess he's doin' good without all those plants after all," Yusuke said to himself, but he stopped and looked carefully at the screen.

A dark object was rising from the fire…

"Wha' moight tha' be there? Kurama better stop 'fore tha' thing hits 'im or somethin'!" Jin shouted at the screen, still floating than using the provided furniture.

'Just as I thought, Pyroblood's dirty tricks never end. Kurama, you're dead if you don't stop celebrating your simple tricks,' Touya thought grimly, knowing the fight might as well be over.

"WELL FOLKS, IT APPEARS KURAMA HAS THE UPPER HAND AS HE CONTINUES TO BEAT PYROBLOOD TO A PULP! BUT WAIT…WHAT'S THAT OBJECT IN THE FIRE?" Koto asked the audience, squinting her eyes to see the full view of the mysterious object.

"This little party's over now, sorry you can't stay Kurama," Pyroblood whispered as he rammed his fist into Kurama's face and stood up. "I really enjoyed your little party though…BLOODY AXE!"

Faster than Kurama could conclude the demon's trick, the object flew from the fire's protective embrace and landed straight in his back! The axe's blade soon became blazing with fire and the fox hissed as he fell to his knees in defeat, feeling the axe drain his spirit energy.

"GWA HA HA HA HA HA, sorry pretty boy but I don't take no beating from no one without giving them somethin' in return!" Pyroblood laughed as he walked around Kurama to claim his axe.

"OH MY FOLKS, WHAT A COMEBACK FROM PYROBLOOD! USING AN ACT TO FOOL HIS OPPONENT, HE MUST'VE CHANTED A SPELL TO BRING HIS AXE TO LIFE! NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL TRUE POWER DON'T YOU?" Koto asked the audience, the roaring cheers and chants answering her obvious question.

"Rose…Whip-," Kurama whispered, but his hand was crushed by the demon's black boot. He grabbed the demon's cloak and tried use his body as a solid surface to perform a flip out of harm's way, but the demon just laughed and sent straight into the fire ring!

Kurama brought his arms up to protect his eyes from the licking flames, but he was already blinded by the fire's heat and he finally found the wall the hard way, landing against it back first.

Rows of unsuspecting demons crumbled as the wall collapsed from the massive impact of Youko's body. The cheering continued and Pyroblood finally let his ring of fire fade into the grass, but he remained in the ring staring down at the fallen fox.

"COME ON KURAMA, GET UP DAMN IT!" Yusuke screamed at the screen, smashing his fists into the indestructible glass. The shock of the fight had surprised them all, but the Revenge Round might turn things around if the fox did survive.

"YOUKO KURAMA HAS BEEN SENT OUT OF THE RING! ONE…TWO…THREE…!" Koto chanted.

Kurama slowly opened his eyes and saw that his body was slightly burnt by the fire's sudden attack. He heard the referee's count to five and could barely see Pyroblood's grinning face, but he ignored the demon's shattering laughs as he slowly got to his feet.

'The fire is down but I can't summon my power without my energy, not since that axe was hurled at me from behind,' he thought to himself as he heard seven as he approached the ring.

"AND WITH SEVEN COUNTS, KURAMA HAS SURPRISINGLY GOT BACK INTO THE RING FOR MORE PAIN! THAT'S DEDICATION FOLKS!" Koto informed as she stepped back to let the fighter's continue.

"I admit you make an edible fighter Kurama," Pyroblood commented.

"Yes…the same with you Pyroblood," Kurama said back.

"Let's get this party back into-ah!" Pyroblood said, cut off by a sharp object plunging into his back. Looking around, he saw plants start to rise from the ring's stone floor.

"Have you ever suffered a hallucination before?" Kurama asked slyly.

Before the demon could answer back, the plant curled around his entire securely making him drop his useless axe. A throbbing pain engulfed his head as his worst nightmare slowly started taking form, his screams causing the audience to cover their ears.

"OH MY, PYROBLOOD APPEARS UNABLE TO MOVE WHILE KURAMA STANDS HERE AND LETS HIS PLANTS DO THE JOB FOR HIM! MY WHAT A CLEVER MOVE FOR KURAMA!" Koto said with excitement, but she suddenly yelped as the ring suddenly exploded with fire.

"KURAMA, GET OUT OF THERE!" Yusuke and Kuwabara shouted at the screen, not seeing the fox in sight.

"E's a goner, doncha think Loreena?" Jin asked sadly.

"I don't know Jin…" was all she could say as she stared at him beside her.

"Wha's supposed t' happen if 'e dies Loreena, do yu kno' a' all?" Jin pressed quietly, floating down to the chair beside her. His once dancing sky blue eyes were now clouded with question and doubt as he stared back at her.

"I don't know of that either, but I do know it's worse than what will happen to Kurama. Someone might be taking the easy but painful way out early, and everyone will enjoy what they might see," Loreena said painfully, looking down from the Wind Shinobi's piercing gaze.

"It's already too late for salvation…"

TO BE CONTINUED…

* * *

A/N: I did good right, I hope I satisfied you guys with this new twist! REVIEW and you will see if Kurama lives or if they meet an easy fate. 


	10. Revenge Round 1

A/N: Hey guys, thanks for reviewing the previous, suspenseful chapter! Here's more of the battle, let's see what takes place here!

Chapter 10

Revenge Round 1

Time didn't seem to be present as the audience and fated group of fighters watched the fiery ring slowly burn to a black hole of what could be demon ashes. Everyone stayed silent as Koto tried to examine the field by squinting her feline like eyes, her face still expressionless and unpredictable as she kept staring down at the burning field.

"Come on Kurama, please be alive," Kuwabara pleaded quietly, his heart racing with anticipation and hope of his friend's condition.

"What happens if Kurama loses?" Botan asked randomly.

"Even I don't know that," Loreena answered, her eyes piercing down at the clearing field through her black hood. She knew this fight wouldn't be over even if it killed Kurama, Pyroblood always found a way to stay alive after any type of attack. "Only time can give us that answer, we just wait and see what is revealed to us."

Everyone nodded at Loreena's creative but grim comments and looked away from her to the clearing field, only to see the short demon lord getting to his feet. His robes and hair were covered with field ashes, but he smiled after he looked around to see Kurama wasn't in his view.

"OKAY EVERYONE, THE FIELD HAS CLEARED AND PYROBLOOD IS THE ONLY NOTICEABLE FIGHTER AT THIS TIME, BUT YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT KURAMA HAS UP HIS SLEEVE," Koto informed the audience, but she suddenly jumped to her feet from her seat and stared down at the field carefully. "LOOK EVERYONE, KURAMA SEEMS TO BE IN ONE PIECE AFTER THAT UNEXPECTED MOVE FROM PYROBLOOD! BUT HE'S OUT OF THE RING AND NOT LOOKIN' TOO PRETTY!" She stared the count and everyone seemed on edge now, waiting to see the result of the fight.

'How could he summon such power without calling its name?' Youko asked himself as he slowly got up from his lying position. He was covered in blood and ashes from the explosion, traces of his aura hanging like threads around his body. 'No demon has ever attempted such an unpredictable move without killing himself. What kind of demon is he?'

"EIGHT…NINE…," Koto's voice echoed.

Kurama started sprinting to the ring, but his energy was drained and he fell to the ground just below the charred ring, panting heavily as he clutched his broken, bleeding left arm.

"TEN AND BY RING OUT, MASTER PYROBLOOD IS THE WINNER!"

Most of the audience cheered for the master's victory, but they suddenly went silent as Pyroblood slammed his axe into the ground and spoke in a loud, challenging voice.

"NOW THE NEXT PART OF THE FIGHT WILL START, THE REVENGE ROUND!" Pyroblood yelled so every fighter could hear his words of challenge.

"MASTER PYROBLOOD, PLEASE DEFINE THE REVENGE ROUND FOR US," Koto requested, her insides jumping for joy at the sound of the two words. She shivered when Pyroblood laughed and wiped the blood from his nose, but she regained her cool as he explained.

"IT'S QUITE SIMPLE REALLY. IF SOMEONE LOSES THE LAST FIGHT OF A ROUND AGAINST ANY OF MY COMPANIONS, THEY GET TO HAVE ONE OF THE FIGHTERS FROM THEIR TEAM COME DOWN FROM THE AUDIENCE AND HELP THEM FIGHT ME OR ONE OF MY ASSOSICATES, BUT THERE'S A CATCH IF THEY LOSE-," he stopped in his speech and clicked his fingers three times and a gate to the south of the stadium opened.

A small family of slaves walked out in chains before the audience, their faces filled with fear and hope of mercy. They made signs to each other since their collars prevented their voices from being heard. They all stepped forward to see a pedestal with a gap the size of a normal head and an executioner staring at them with a large scythe.

"SELECTED SLAVES WILL FACE EXECUTION RIGHT BEFORE THIS LOVELY AUDIENCE, NO MATTER HOW MUCH THE FIGHTERS OR SLAVES BEG FOR MERCY. ONCE THE TWO FIGHTERS LOSE AGAINST ONE OF US, NOTHING CAN STAND IN THE WAY OF DEATH," he finished, a grim smile etched in his ash covered face. He didn't laugh just then, for he was saving his victory laugh for the end of the battle. "COME OUT AND PLAY, I KNOW YOU'RE WATCHING!"

Everyone suddenly became confused and talked amongst one another, trying to decipher the master's last phrase. People begged Koto to explain Pyroblood's sudden remark, but she only stared down at the unfortunate slaves who stood before their fate.

"W-What does he mean by that?" Kuwabra asked nervously.

"He wants a specific person to fight him," Hiei said with excitement.

"I'm goin' tu foight him!" Jin said, flying out of the room, but someone chased after him to protest against his decision.

"You're not ready to fight someone like him, Jin," the person said calmly.

"Don' be crazy, I'm ready!" Jin said defensively.

"I'm telling you as a friend Jin, let me handle this. Besides, you two can't have all the fun at once," the person said, stepping out of the shadows. Yusuke gave him thumbs up and started walking out to fight Pyroblood, when Loreena ran after him to give him last-minute advice.

"You're too reckless to fight him," she warned.

"Don't be stupid, I'm doing this for Kurama!" Yusuke shouted, but he didn't dodge Loreena's sudden uppercut.

"Go ahead and die Yusuke, but you're pride doesn't compare to those people's lives! Don't be stupid like usual and watch your back, he's not to be messed with," Loreena said coldly, then walked off back to the room as Jin followed her.

"I hope Urameshi doesn't mess up," Kuwarbara commented.

"Hn, I would like an opportunity to fight this demon, he looks to be a worthy adversary," Hiei said as he grinned at the screen.

"Let's just see how stupid he acts this time," Touya said and they all went quiet as Yusuke arrived at the ring and started talking to Kurama while Koto made her quick announcement to start the Revenge Round.

"ALRIGHT EVERYONE, WE'VE GOT OURSELVES A GREAT LOOKING REVENGE ROUND NOW THAT SPIRIT DETECTIVE YUSUKE URAMESHI ENTERS THE RING," Koto said with a bubbly voice, trying to fight the urge to dance.

Yusuke helped Kurama stand up as they stepped onto the black field, blood trailing behind them from Kurama's bleeding arm. Kurama had returned to his red headed from and he seemed like he were to die at any second.

"Honored to meet such a famous detective as yourself," Pyroblood said.

"Cut the introductions pal, I've got a fight to win," Yusuke said impatiently as he helped Kurama down and out of harm's way.

"Don't…mess…with…him…Yusuke," Kurama wheezed.

"Yeah yeah…I know that! You just rest for now," Yusuke said impatiently, turning to his adversary. "So, how does this "Revenge Round" work, I don't have a lot of time here."

"GWA HA HA HA! I like you boy, you're attitude fires me up! Here's the thing: You fight me until your comrade can stand and fight again, but if you lose…well, you get my meaning right? It's a Fight to the Death!" Pyroblood said with intimidation, his dull eyes now fiery with excitement.

"READY, BEGIN REVENGE ROUND NUMBER ONE!"

'This better be a good ending for all of us,' Loreena thought grimly.

"FIRE…SHIELD!" Pyroblood said again and the ring of fire came to life.

'This'll be easy, he's too weak to kill me,' Yusuke thought with a smile as he into his stance for Spirit Wave.

"No where else to go for you, Spirit Dectective…YOU'RE MINE!" Pyroblood screamed and charged for Yusuke.

'That's it…come to try and kill me,' Yusuke said to himself, his energy level rising dramatically.

But what happened next was so sudden and blinding that no one could see what just took place. As Yusuke yelled and performed his late master's signature move, Pyroblood did the same explosion as he did when he fought Kurama. Once more, the field burst into flames and the audience jumped out of their seats to avoid falling fireballs.

"WOW FOLKS EVEN WITH PYROBLOOD IN A THREATENING CONDITION, HE STILL PERFOMS HIS STRONGEST MOVE LIKE HE DID TO KURAMA! NOW THIS IS SOMETHING YOU DON'T SEE IN ANY NORMAL TOURNAMENT, I'M SO EXCITED AND FIRED UP FROM THIS FIGHT!" Koto said emotionally, jumping around screaming like a rock concert girl.

"She needs to be taught a lesson in humanity and emotion," Loreena snarled.

"No kidding, she's always like this at every tournament," Botan agreed.

"The real question is: Where does all that energy come from?" Hiei said to the angry women, seeing they were suddenly interested in his comment. "Every time before someone attacks him, his uses his axe to make them weak and drain their energy. Does that type of strategy ring a bell to your occupied brains?"

Everyone suddenly started thinking and then gasped at the television screen as the fire suddenly turned blue with Yusuke's energy, but the two fighters couldn't be seen through the blue shield. The audience resumed their endless cheering for each fighter and shouting to see the right, while the slaves huddled next to each other as they watched in suspense and fading hope for their freedom.

"UH-OKAY FOLKS, IT APPEARS THE FIGHTERS WANT TO QUARREL PRIVATELY! YUSUKE MUST BE USING HIS ENERGY TO DOUSE THE RISING FLAMES FROM PYROBLOOD'S AXE, I GUESS WE JUST WAIT AND SEE IF THIS FIGHT CLEARS UP," Koto said nervously, her body acting strange now that the fight couldn't be seen. Her senses craved a live fight with speed and some blood, but she also shivered at the thought of the outcome of the fight.

"We 'ave to save those people roight now!" Jin said, standing up.

"Yes, but how? That executioner can call security!" Touya shouted.

"Who cares about the guards, let's just save those people!" Kuwabara added.

Everyone but Hiei and Loreena ignored the clearing screen, but the fight only seemed to get uglier than before. The two ignored the arguing demons and human, knowing their attempt wouldn't go unnoticed.

"GUYS, GET A HOLD OF YOURSELVES!" Loreena screamed, getting their attention. "There's nothing we can do, no matter how much our hearts are dying to do the right thing. They are the only ones who can save them now. We just have to wait and see what happens."

"SHOTGUN!" Yusuke yelled, millions of blue energy bullets shooting from his hands. He grinned as the fire demon started bleeding and grunting from the effect of his energy, but he didn't sense the odd presence behind him.

"BLO…ODY…AXE," Pyroblood whispered, the axe springing to life.

The audience stood still, along with time as the axe flew towards Yusuke to end his life, but something caught the axe in midair. Yusuke turned to see Kurama standing before the axe, the blade landing straight…in his heart!

"K-U-R-A-M-A!" Yusuke shouted as his energy bullets faded into nothing.

Everyone watched as the red headed fighter fell to his knees, coughing up blood as he tried to pull the axe out. His scream of agony as he slowly pulled the blade out of him only caused the leader's part of the audience to cheer with glory of a good ending for Pyroblood.

"No…he can't be…," Touya whispered.

"Kurama…no…," Kuwabara said to himself.

Yusuke turned to a laughing but dying Pyroblood, his eyes gleaming blue with anger and revenge. He felt his energy become unstable, flying around his body like a hungry hawk.

"DAMN YOU AND YOUR RULES, I WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU! SPIRIT GUN!" Yusuke screamed as his energy gathered and charged towards the dying fire demon in one large bullet, tears running fiercely down his face.

But the detective wasn't finished just yet as he walked over to the dying Kurama, the blade almost out of his chest. He smiled at his friend, Kurama nodded at his friend's idea and together they pulled the axe out and Yusuke walked back over to his enemy.

"I hope Death enjoys its victory tonight, Pyroblood," Yusuke said menacingly and plunged the axe into its master. The fire demon gasped and tried to click his fingers, but Yusuke fired another Spirit Gun and the fire demon was finished.

"ALRIGHT FOLKS, YUSUKE AND KURAMA WIN THE FIRST REVENGE ROUND WITH A GREAT SUCCESS! TEAM URAMESHI PROCEEDS TO ROUND TWO BEGINNING TOMORROW! THANK YOU AND SEE YOU ALL TOMORROW!" Koto yelled, turned off her microphone and walked out of her box.

The audience cheered the winning fighters, but Yusuke ignored them and walked over to see the smiling slaves but they also looked guilty when they saw him carrying Kurama.

"You're welcome, hopefully we can set you all free," Yusuke said proudly.

The little boy walked up and gave Yusuke a little stone and pointed to Kurama, which made the detective smile and give the little boy a high five before leaving. But the mother tapped him on the shoulder and pointed to the box where the others were, but the detective remained confused.

"Tell her thank you," the woman mouthed silently.

Yusuke nodded and walked back to the door up to his box to talk with the others, Kurama's blood staining his bare chest as he left the arena.

* * *

-Later that Night, Medical Office-

The lizard doctor finally walked out of the operating room to see all of Kurama's friends waiting, but he only pointed to Yusuke and Jin and the two demons followed the doctor back into the room without a word to the others.

"That was a close fight," Botan whispered through tears.

"Kurama must be the most dedicated person out of all of us," Touya guessed, but he caught Loreena _actually _crying. "Loreena, are you alright?"

The Night Maiden looked up from the ground to the ice youkai beside her, but she shook her head and tried to keep her emotions inside herself for no one else to see.

"It's ok to act like this Loreena," Touya assured her.

"I don't care…he gave his…life for them…why would he…," she stammered, confused at how someone of a different race even care for her own kind despite what their fate was.

"Because Kurama cares for everyone," Kuwabara added.

Loreena looked up to the orange headed human, seeing his eyes full of worry but faith as well. She looked at him with confusion and wondered why they all seemed to care for her kind; it was alien for her to have someone actually care for what happened to the slaves of the cursed place.

"It was…brave…of him…I guess," she stated quietly.

But no one spoke further when Yusuke and Jin stepped out of the operating room with the lizard doctor. The others couldn't tell what their faces would tell them, so they just said nothing and started walking back to their room to train and rest for tomorrow's battles.

Hiei and Touya occupied the back area of their rooms by the trees and lake while Kuwabara talked to Yusuke about fight, Jin just watched Loreena from the window while she practiced her substitute attacks for tomorrow.

'How can she think of foightin' tomorrow? Kurama gave his life fer her, but she doesn' seem worried a' all,' Jin wondered to himself as he watched his old friend fight the wind and her problems.

"She's a strange one, isn't she?" Yusuke asked Jin.

"Nah, jus' different," Jin said quietly.

"This tournament is suspicious, especially for what happened today," Yusuke said, thinking of what the doctor explained to them earlier.

"Should we tell Koenma before we foight?" Jin suggested.

"Not a bad idea," someone said behind them, making the two jump. "We should bring him here so he can see just how worse things are getting."

"Good idea," Yusuke said to Touya. "But what about Kurama?"

"Let's sleep on tha', then we'll go tu Koenma durin' 'he tournmamen' without any trouble," Jin concluded and they all agreed.

They all just hoped that tomorrow would be better once Koenma came to see what their next move should be. Kurama was in no condition to fight and Loreena was at risk despite what she says, but nothing would prepare them for their dark future ahead that waited around the corner.

To be Continued!


	11. Turning Point!

Announcement: Turning Point!

Greetings readers, I severely apologize a thousand times for keeping you in suspense for so long. High school gets you doing new things and meeting new people not to mention homework up the corner, but I'm SO sorry the story hasn't continued yet. But this point in the story has come to a turning point to where I need your help deciding what will happen next.

Here are the two options:

1) They keep fighting in the tournament until a permanent death, then head back to Earth to rest and make plans.

OR…

2) An ambush occurs during a fight and some leave back to Earth to escape death, along with funny and random adventures to lighten up the mood until they go back and finish the fight against the four leaders.

It's up to you to help, I can't think what way to turn to be honest because I have planned both sides already. Please VOTE in your REVIEWS and I'll check to see what options wins. Hopefully, it won't take me too long to post the new chapter of the turning point. Again, thanks to EVERYONE WHO HAS REVIEWED, every comment has made the story flow even better since I posted it a couple years back. Thank you so much and I hope to see some help soon, bye for now!

Your Corrupted Author,

Icy AngelWings


	12. A Twist in Fate's Plans

A/N: Hey all, it's awesome to be back! Sorry again that I've been procrastinating on this story. Running around with certain someone has been keeping me busy, along with the last term of my sophomore year. But the turning point is going with the second option. If you all have any random adventures in mind I could put in my story, just let me know and I'll thank you a million times and provide a year supply of caffeine! Anyway, enjoy this new chapter!

Chapter 11

A Twist in Fate's Plan

Seeing thin strips of Spirit Energy slither from her fingertips, Loreena figured practice was over for tonight. As time seemed to slow down as she released her bottled fury, she didn't seem to pay attention to the person who had seemed to be watching her. Turning around to face the abyss known as the woods, she two pearl colored eyes looking quietly back at her hot, dripping face.

"Do I really attract an audience?" she asked the person innocently.

"Cut the act Loreena, I'm not here to watch!" the person snapped.

Waiting for the person to jump down from the nearby tree and take a few quiet steps towards her, Loreena looked at him with curious eyes. She had met this person back on the boat and though his voice was all too familiar, her mind couldn't decipher his existence.

"How do I know you, I deserve to know if you're stalking me and my companions," Loreena stated quietly, his anger somehow affecting her mood.

"Not know, fate's plans have changed for you and your team," the person said, his pearl colored eyes showing light blue pupils that looked back at her sweat clad face with a strange emotion she couldn't label.

"Just tell me, the "suspense" is getting old," Loreena said tiredly, wiping her face with her already wet black sleeve.

Her visitor looked back up at the glowing rooms where the others were staying, their outlines by the window looking suspicious. He cocked his head for a moment, then sighed and looked back at her.

"It won't be long Loreena; you need to tell everyone to be aware of the events that will occur within the next three hours. I have to leave again, but I hope you will be able to face this unexpected event with courage and determination. Farewell for now, Night Maiden," the person said softly before he spread his dark wings and flew off into the rising moon behind her.

'Whoever you are, I hope you're right as well,' Loreena said to herself.

Taking a few deep breaths and completing a few short stretches before heading flying above the forest back to the now open window. One light was turned out and Kuwabara and Hiei were out cold, but Jin, Touya and Yusuke stayed awake in the other room talking. She couldn't help but slowly place her ear on the door, wondering what her companions were up to this late at night.

"She's not a spy!" Jin yelled at someone.

"How do we know for sure, wind boy?" Yusuke mocked back.

"I now 'er Yusuke, she's no' a spy fer them!" Jin said hotly.

"Calm yourselves down, you two! We don't know anything yet, we can't afford to jump to ANY conclusions from the condition we're in right now," Touya interrupted calmly, getting up.

Loreena silently walked away from the door, closed the window and then turned to face the three boys staring at her. Yusuke still had his usual pissed off look on his face, arms folded impatiently while Jin just floated above the ground.

"I don't know who he is Yusuke, so don't ask me," Loreena told him.

"Whatever, I'm going to bed!" Yusuke boomed before slamming the door behind him, leaving the three to stare after him.

"What's his problem?" Loreena asked, looking out the window.

"Don't know, lass, couldn' tell ya," Jin said, floating to the window beside her.

"What did you two discuss Loreena? You looked funny," Touya said.

"All he said is that all of us need to be aware of this place within the next hours, but he actually didn't know much himself before he left again," Loreena explained, her voice's calm barrier breaking. "But from what I saw in his eyes, I knew he was telling the truth and has genuine concern for all of us."

Before long, the three went into the room to see Yusuke sound asleep, with his ear shattering snores to follow. Loreena has left to check on Kurama and Jin just sat on the window sill, her words running through his thoughts endlessly.

"What could happen, Jin?" Touya asked quietly, arms under his head on the still made bed.

"I don' know Touya, bu' she's roight 'bout tha' lad. This night strange, 't is," Jin said as if to himself before lying on the windowsill and following Yusuke's snores.

* * *

"Thank you Doctor Walker, you've been a wonderful help for all of us," Loreena told the lizard doctor as she escorted him out of Kurama's room. "Get a great rest, I'll look after him."

"Thank you Loreena, I'm glad to see you safe again," Walker whispered.

"Remember our agreement?" she asked once more.

"Yes Loreena, no one shall know who you truly are. Whether someone tortures me for the answer or I die silent, I promise. He doesn't need anything worth attending to, so you can leave anytime, just lock up before you leave," Walker said before smiling as he shut the door.

It wasn't long before Kurama finally woke up after hours in a coma from the fight. He groaned in pain, but smiled when he saw the disguised Loreena beside him, holding his IV line in place again.

"Looks like you're alive after all," Loreena said humorously.

"I agree with you," he said with a dry laugh.

"How are you doing so far, Kurama?" she asked quietly, her voice changing since the guards came by every night.

"I think my recovery is coming closer than I intended," he responded as he moved his arm to a comfortable position on the pillow. "How is everyone else since the fight?"

"They're managing for now, but I think tonight will be different," she stated.

"What do you mean?" he asked as he supported himself to sitting up.

"Back in the boat, a person visited me and told me of strange things and tonight he appeared once more after my practice. His voice seemed concerned for our well being, but he left a warning that something will happen within the next three hours so I think I might not see the battle ring for a while," Loreena explained, her voice sounding worried.

A sudden bang on the door and an angry guard's voice made their conversation end on a dead end.

"VISITING HOURS ARE OVER! LEAVE NOW TO YOUR ROOM!"

"Yes sir, I'll be out in a moment!" Loreena's foreign voice answered. Once the footsteps faded into nothing down the hall, Loreena looked back at the sleepy Kurama and gave him a serious look.

"I guess I spoke too soon," she said seriously.

"Take care of yourself and the others," he advised, his hand reaching for hers and she took it without intention.

"This whole thing never happened, Kurama, goodbye," Loreena said as she patted his hand and then walked out the door to face whatever lay ahead for her and the others.

* * *

Making back to her room without any situation involving the guards, Loreena quietly shut the door to see a strange gas in the rooms. She immediately covered her mouth with her clean sleeve and began to wake the others. Jin instantly roused from sleep, but coughed once he saw the gas and saw Loreena trying to rouse Touya.

"Wha's goin' on, Loreena?" Jin asked quietly, covering his mouth.

"My visitor was right," was all she said before Touya awoke and followed.

Though attempting to wake Yusuke failed miserably, they listened to the other door to hear a leader and an unknown demon speaking in a foreign tongue. They laughed and said something else before the other door closed and an alarm sounded throughout the entire castle.

The three pounded the door down to see Kuwabara awake and looking confused. They asked him if he heard anything critical, but he shook his head and yelped quietly when Koenma burst through the door beside them.

"Koenma, what's going on here?" Touya questioned.

"No idea, but I came as soon as I could to help get you all out here!" he said.

"How, guards and wolves are stationed everywhere!" Loreena said, looking at them from the window.

"Use these carefully, they don't last long," Koenma said, holding up four devices, one already strapped to left arm. "Now hurry, Botan's waiting on the north roof!"

Looking back at the two unconscious boys, Loreena sighed and followed them out into the hall and strapped their devices onto their left arms. Before they knew it, they had become invisible to the demon eye as a pair of guards just ran into the room. They didn't bother with Yusuke or Hiei and ran out and down the opposite hall.

"Let's go, we don' 'ave time!" Jin said, grabbing Loreena's arm as he flew across the hall to catch up to the running Touya and Koenma.

They down endless halls, choked up with the strange gas and confused fighters coughing and talking with others as guards searched their rooms and Merciless Wolves sniffing out the perimeter. Reaching the stairway to the roof after a few minutes of running, Loreena looked back just in time to see her unknown visitor staring at her. He nodded and ran down the hall without a shouted word, leaving Loreena wondering of his second arrival at the castle.

Feeling Jin's rough tug on her arm, Loreena broke her chain of thinking and ran up the stairs to see Koenma and Touya seated behind Botan on her full oar. With Jin took hold onto the end and Loreena's arms around his neck, they soared into the sky and away from the castle, Merciless Wolves howling into the fading night.

Within a few hours of sunrise, Botan landed in front of the entrance of Koenma's secret quarters and everyone unloaded the oar and ran inside to make sure no one followed them.

"I WANT ANSWERS NOW KOENMA, WHY DID WE LEAVE WITHOUT YUSUKE, KURAMA OR HIEI?" Loreena yelled, pounding her fists on his office desk in anger.

"Calm yerself, Loreena," Jin said with surprising frustration and held her shoulders firmly and led her a few inches back from Koenma's desk.

"I know you're concerned-," Koenma tried to say.

"CONCERNED, THEY'LL BE KILLED IF WE DON'T GO BACK!"

"Loreena, they were looking for you!" Koenma finally said angrily.

In that moment, Loreena's body submitted and immediately took refuge in the chair in front of the desk besides Jin and Kuwabara. She blankly stared at the ruler of Spirit World, waiting for him to continue.

"From a reliable source, someone saw you talking to Kurama before the fight and reported it to one of the leaders after the Revenge Round. He then ran into my colleague and he made the demon tell him the whole thing. I'm not going into detail of that conversation, but you should be thanking us for saving you again, Loreena. If you had stayed there any longer and the leaders would have what they've been searching for," Koenma paused, giving the Night Maiden time to cope with his news.

"Are you talking about the person she met on the boat?" Touya asked.

"I am not allowed to say anything on that matter," Koenma said sadly.

"So, wha' now, Koenma? Wha' 'bout this do we do?" Jin asked calmly, releasing Loreena's limp shoulders.

"For now, Botan and I think the best place for you all to go is to the Human World until the time is right to return. Kuwabara can show you three around and help you blend in with the humans, in case they decide to come looking for you in the meantime," Koenma informed them, his voice reflecting concern as well as his changing eyes.

"When do we leave, then?" Loreena finally asked softly.

"Why don't you all rest for a while and you can tell us when you're ready?" Botan suggested happily.

The four looked at each other for a moment, but when they looked back at their ruler and his twisted assistant, both could see that they wanted to leave as soon as possible. But both could also see that they wanted to go back and get the others, but everyone knew they didn't have any options.

"Let's just go now, I miss my bed," Kuwabara complained as he yawned.

"Does everyone else agree?" Botan asked, and the three nodded intently.

"Fine then, come with me," Koenma said with a sigh as he got up.

After walking back to the entrance, everyone loaded up onto Botan's oar and once more soared up in the sky as the sun painted the young sky with bright orange and yellow.

'Watch yourselves, you three,' Loreena said to herself.

"Kuwabara, what's your world like?" Touya asked randomly.

"I'll…let ya know…when we get there," Kuwabara answered in between yawns and stretching, nearly hitting Touya in the face.

"I hope the wind be'er there says I," Jin said with hope in his voice.

Before long, they passed through the gate and were flying over the city of the Ningen World. The sun was soft in the sky as it rose gently above the city as people got up for another new day. Though the sun's presence felt warm on their backs, the thought of abandoning their friend's still remained in their eyes as they descended to Kuwabara's place.

'Fate works in mysterious ways,' Touya thought.

'I want food!' Kuwabara's mind cried.

'The wind be be'er here says I, but wha' loies ahead be foggy,' Jin thought.

'Just what I need: a bunch of buildings and humans,' Loreena thought irritably to herself. 'This should be interesting…'

To Be Continued…

* * *

A/N: Well, that should satisfy y'all for now, but please if you all can think of any random, hilarious adventures these guys can have…PLEASE let me know and I'll be in your debt! starts bowing Just leave a review so I can stop bowing, it kills my back! 


	13. Cry For Help

Dear awesome fans of Secret Longing,

I hope you guys haven't been planning to threaten me to update yet…I've been trying to get help for the humorous chapters ahead, but I haven't had much luck lately. I want to apologize once again, this is getting harder to plan out since my mind lost the original storyline.

I need your guy's help! Either send a review or e-mail me some funny ideas and details I could use to put into a chapter. I thought of Jin and Kuwabara trying on stuff in Victoria's Secret and getting high off the perfume and stuff. Any suggestion helps and credit will go the person/people that help me out. I PROMISE that if I can get one chapter updated within the next couple of months, I'll make sure that I have two new chapters updated the week after. I'll make sure I find time to keep that promise and I really hope I can live up to it.

I want to thank you guys for being patient (if you're not building weapons of mass destruction yet…) and for your awesome support! I've been here 3 years now and I only find great friends on this website. Hope everyone has had a great holiday break and I can't wait to hear from anybody!

Always your author,

Dracula's Soprano (Icy AngelWings)

P.S. Sorry about not getting out a notice that I changed my name, that kind of slipped past me too…


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